A mid-40s avreich from Bnei Braq was injured in a traffic accident. According to the article in Haredim10 he was not significantly injured and the injuries did not significantly affect his ability to function as normal, but his injuries did cause him to qualify as 10% disability.

The avreich decided to sue for damages and his lawyer claimed that his earnings potential that was affected should not be considered based his earnings now as an avreich, which is really far below his potential, but as the possibility that he could have decided at some point in the future to become a dayan and earn a very respectable salary.

It seems such claims are normally more accepted when being used for a younger client, but clients already in their 40s are not considered to be realistic as at that age people dont suddenly change their careers and get such lucrative positions. The judge however accepted the claim and decided that the potential earnings damaged by the injury should be considered by taking into account the average wages in the general workforce and not based on earnings of someone not expected to work even though right now, and his entire life, he hasnt worked and hasnt earned an average salary.

The decision led the avreich to be granted compensation far above what was originally expected.

Firstly, good for him.

Secondly, it seems it is a realistic claim for anyone to make that even though now I am an electrician, a teacher, a social worker, a whatever making an average salary to be considered as having the potential to one day be President of the country or partner in a major law firm or hi-tech entrepreneur with higher earnings potential.

The TOI via JTA reported on a Mexican couple that got married last week with a Nazi themed wedding. Obviously Fernando and Josefina adore Adolph Hitler, may his name and memory rot in eternal damnation. 

This is actually their second wedding. The first was a civil marriage several years ago, and this wedding was a religious ceremony (which religion? Probably Catholic). They have a couple of kids already, each named for a prominent Nazi from Hitler's confidants. Both weddings, the original and the recent, took place on the anniversary of the wedding of Hitler and Eva Braun.

From TOI:

The best part, or weirdest part, is perhaps what the groom said...

“I understand that for many people, Hitler represents genocide, racism and violence. People, on the other hand, make judgments without having all of the facts, Hitler was a vegetarian who rescued his country from famine and returned to his people the lands lost during World War I. His friends and family adored him."

judgments without all the facts? No, I am pretty sure we know pretty much all the facts in regards to Hitler and what he liked and did not like.

to some Hitler represents genocide and racism but he was really a vegetarian who saved Germany from famine.... yes, his vegetarianism far outweighs his racism and genocidal plans that he acted upon very efficiently.

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Merkaz Harav has invited the Prime Minister to the Yom Yerushalayim celebrations for a long time. I dont know if they always did or only since Netanyahu has been Prime Minister. I tried finding information but couldnt really find anything solid. I know they invited Jerusalem mayors as well, and other politicians at times.

Even if they do not have to invite PM Bennett, I think it is a mistake not to, and it is definitely a mistake to invite the Head of Opposition without the Prime Minister. Meaning, if you are not going to invite the Prime Minister, dont invite Netanyahu either. Inviting Netanyahu and not Bennett turns the yeshiva too political and divisive and in the long run will likely be bad for the yeshiva and for Torah in general. Dont invite any politician is better than inviting just Netanyahu.

If they would like to see even a semblance of compliance they should really make it slightly more realistic.

The announcement is that bonfires will only be allowed in areas that will have been designated and prepared for this by the Iryah. And it goes on to list the designated plots for bonfires throughout the city. Each neighborhood listed has two sites or more designated for bonfires. For some of those neighborhoods, two might not be enough either, but let's say it is. RBS A, possibly the largest single neighborhood of the entire Bet Shemesh is the only neighborhood with only one designated area - on Ein Gedi St. and it doesnt even say where on Ein Gedi St

Besides for the fact that it is not realistic to send thousands of people to one spot unless you are trying to create a disaster, and that is without even taking available parking into account, do they really expect people from Nahal Dolev, Nahal Raziel, Nahal Shimshon, Nehar Hayarden, and other streets on the other side of the neighborhood to go all the way to Ein Gedi, even if the people who live closer will? This is like set up to fail!

If they expect compliance, or anything close to it, they should have an area for bonfires in each area of the neighborhood - RBS is very large and spread out so more than one, probably at least 5 or 6 are needed.... (it might be just as insufficient in other neighborhoods, but I am only referring to RBS A)

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All that being said, whenever this government will make its way into the history books, I wonder what will happen with the next government that gets formed. while obviously I dont know what the makeup of the government will be, which parties will get in and which will fail to cross the minimum threshold, how many seats each will have and what type of coalition will come together, assuming either the next Knesset looks somewhat similar to the current one, or assuming elections will be avoided and attempts will be made to form a new government from the current Knesset, will they let bygones be bygones or will they work together?

Meaning, after all the verbal and emotional abuse the Likud and Bibi, along with UTJ and Shas, have heaped on Naftali Bennett personally this past year calling him the worst names (whether you think he deserved it or not), and others as well but Bennett got the brunt of it, so what happens next? Does Naftali join a Likud government and ignore the past? Does the Likud take Naftali and his party as members with positions of authority commensurate to the size of the party despite everything they called him this past year - is he suddenly kosher because he will help Bibi/Likud (assuming Likud is tasked with forming a government)?

And was this RAAM's one chance - after Bibi legitimized Mansour Abbas and Abbas joined the Bennett government, the Likud has spent the last delegitimizing Abbas and RAAM. So, is that it? Will they no longer join, or be invited to join, a future government, at least in the near future? And after they were a very unstable partner, regularly demanding more things in exchange for remaining in the government, did they overplay their hands and make themselves undesirable again?

What do you think?

This is Yair. Yesterday Yair saved the lives of his entire family, and probably of others like his neighbors in Tekoa. He saw someone climbing his property's fence and called out to him, receiving only an incomprehensible response. He realized this was likely another attack, this one on his family, so he took his wife and kid sinto the house and told them to shut the doors and windows. He got his gun and went back outside. In the meantime the terrorist has gotten behind him via the driveway. He saw the terrorist coming out at him from the bushes and he shot him. Shot him dead.

This morning Yair posted the above picture  with the caption "waiting for the next terrorist".

Good job Yair, and I like how cool, how calm and collected you are... I hope your outer coolness doesnt belie any internal trauma...

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Reading Depressed: A Story of Struggle and Inspiration by Yoni Palmer was both enlightening and difficult. My brother died of mental health illness (that included depression) less than two years ago and I must say I honestly never really understood it until I read this book. Even now I probably don't fully understand it, or even close to fully, but I think I now have a much better grasp of what people with these illnesses suffer through.

Depressed is a very different book than other books already on the market about depression and other mental illnesses. Most books on the topic, other books on the topic, are from a clinical perspective with experts talking about what it is and how to handle it. Books written by someone suffering from depression, describing what it is like, how he handled it, how it affects his family and job and friends, how he descends into thoughts of self-harm, and all that also including Torah sources on the matter - that seems rare and unique to me.

Palmer describes the events that led up to his illness, how he suffered, how he got diagnosed and treated, how he came out of it and how he repeatedly suffered from it again and again over the years. One thing that struck me is how he discovered many others suffer similarly without talking about it - he was able to pick up the signs from some that he previously didnt identify, and others told him so as a fellow sufferer. When I was sitting shiva for my brother, and for some time after, I too discovered that so many suffer from mental illness or have someone in their family that does and it was a shocking revelation, especially considering how quiet it is kept and how little it is talked about. 

Yoni's purpose in writing this book, as he himself says, is to raise awareness, to show others what it is like and to help even one individual who might read the book and finally understand what is happening and get some guidance. I never before understood the depths of the level of pikuach nefesh and danger people who suffer mental illness go through, sometimes on a regular or extended basis.

I really connected to and learned from Yoni's experiences as documented in Depressed. And I feel like I already had my eyes opened and had some understanding - I see how little I understood, and still understand, but I have a better understanding now. If someone suffers from cancer or diabetes or heart failure, we get it, but if it is mental illness, we just dont get it. And even if we accept it and sympathize, we still dont really get it and dont see or understand the depth of suffering. This book really opened up my eyes, at least somewhat, to what people with this illness go through.

Depression and other mental illnesses need to be destigmatized, but even if you are not prepared to open up more publicly, reading Depressed will help you understand more what you or your friend or relative might be going through, and it might help you pick up some of the signs and allow you to be more helpful and understanding of what your loved on is going through.