The BDS movement does not register too many significant victories any longer. Artists and performers come to Israel, professors, college students, movers and shakers - many basically ignore the BDS movement.

Sadly, one of their most significant victories, at least recent victories, has come, and is at the expense of the people they should be trying to help, not hurt.

The Times of Israel is reporting that SodaStream, the company that employed hundreds of Palestinians and managed a mixed Jewish-Palestinian work-space successfully, has succumbed to the BDS movement and fired its last batch of 75 Palestinian employees. For whatever reason, perhaps because of the most recent terror attack perpetrated by a Palestinian employed in a mall in Maaleh Adumim, the Israeli government refused to extend their work permits past February.

The firing of these last 75 or so employees might not be the fault of the BDS movement, at least not directly, but the firing of the hundreds before causing there to be only 75 left is the direct fault of BDS. And, forcing the factory to move and making the continued employment of these last 75 as well to be difficult and challenging is also the fault of the BDS movement.

Too much forest and too few trees are being seen..

Despite a similar law being proposed in the past, and rejected, MKs Ahmed Tibi (UAL) and Eitan Cabel (Hamachane Hatzioni) are proposing a law that would require the Kvish 6 operators to not charge drivers for using the road in situations that they needed to sit an unusually long time in traffic jams.

According to Tibi and Cabel, drivers on those situations are not getting the savings in time that they were paying for, and it is in opposition to the purpose of the road itself and the laws governing it

In the past a similar proposal was opposed by the Minister of Transportation, as giving such deductions would require the State to pay the operator more and it would go against the operator contract with the State.
source: Ynet

I dont know why they expect different results with this proposal, seeing that nothing has been substantially changed - similar proposal, same Transportation Minister and same governing contract. And the proposal is not even from coalition MKs, but from Opposition MKs... so while it sounds good from the perspective of a consumer, I don't expect it to pass.

I am telling you this with certainty.. all of it, all of it, all these degrees are rubbish and nonsense. In the Knesset none of the haredim have degrees and we have proven time after time that we are the best in everything. 

  -- Minister of Health Yaakov Litzman, at a panel in Modiin Ilit about Haredi employment

People have been scamming the world trying to sell junk from Israel for a long time. I think of items like "holy water", "holy air", "holy sand", and the like.

The latest is on eBay are rocks from Jerusalem near the Kotel, and even people claiming to sell rocks from the Western Wall itself!

ebay

ebay

ebay

ebay

The pictures on that last one are all pictures of the area of the egalitarian platform where the Reform and Women of the Wall hold their services, making one suspicious that the rock might have  been taken from the Kotel in that area.

First of all anybody considering purchasing such a rock must question its authenticity. It probably does not come with any certificate of authenticity and might very well be a rock just picked up from the ground anywhere nearby or even not so nearby.

Second, depending on the status of the Kotel, and assuming the rock is actually from the Kotel as claimed, it might very well be prohibited to sell and buy, and even just take, such a rock. If the Wall is a remaining part from the Beit Hamikdash, it could very well be taking something holy and appropriating it for personal use, which is a problem. The other possibility is that the Kotel might not have the status of having been part of the actual Temple but only a retaining wall for the Mount and then it would not have such a status.

Third, I think it is illegal by Israeli law to take such artifacts.

Fourth, I find it amusing that all those selling these rocks have an image of the rock next to an Israeli coin, for sizing purposes, and in the description they say the coin is part of the purchase package.

Fifth, I guess the next step will be selling sponsorships of the Stones that are part of the Kotel. They will put plaques upon each stone saying who sponsored that stone, or half stone or quarter stone, of the Kotel.

it was bound to happen eventually.. finally one of these videos in which a friend of mine was interviewed!

this one ends on a note of suspense, as if an argument is brewing!

Seeing the news the past couple of days and the discussion about the Reform and Netanyahu and the Haredi parties, it seems to me that this issue has taken a life of its own and won't just go away quietly as per the normal news cycle.

The Haredi MKs have been mostly quiet, except for Eichler and even he has been tamer than usual [for him].

But, the Haredi newspapers and journalists have been writing scathing editorials and they are pushing the MKs and the rabbinic councils" into corners. The hassidic council already met and leveled some sort of threat against Netanyahu, and the rhetoric is continuing to pick up steam.

I suspect that unless Netanyahu figures out quickly how to put this to rest, this will get out of control and the MKs will be forced to take a move they did not want to take, with strong implications, for good or for bad.

Five Chinese Jews come home after thousands of years

  -- IsraelNational News

these five Jews look pretty good for being thousands of years old!

but seriously it is amazing kibbutz galuyot..

The big news to make a splash in the news media over the weekend was an item in the New York Times that quickly spread to the Israeli news sites, frum and not frum alike.

The item is about an elderly women, a Holocaust survivor, a retired lawyer, who was flying business class on El Al and was asked by the stewardess on behalf of a fellow passenger to switch seats so that he, a male haredi, would not have to sit next to her.

This basically fell into the lap of the Reform movement and Anat Hoffman who have been looking for a case that involved stewards/stewardesses and not just passengers and they are now suing El Al for discrimination and whatever else they can.

I am not going to analyze and comment on the details of the story and debate whether she had a choice or didn't, was pressured or not, lied to or not, discriminated against or not, whether suing is right or wrong, or anything like that. That has been done ad nauseum all over the social media forums.

What I find more interesting about this, and some other situations that have come up in the recent past, is the situation that we have seen Orthodox people (and this woman describes herself as one) turning to the Reform movement for assistance. For assistance in fighting against other Orthodox people.

The Reform are, of course, more than happy to step into such situations. It is perfect for them, and they cannot lose by doing so. My interest is from the Orthodox perspective. What makes someone Orthodox turn to the Reform movement for help? It seems to me it is because they realize they are in a situation in which they are being ignored and will not get help from their normal venues - their own community, the local Orthodox Rabbi, community leaders, and the like. When a person feels stuck and helpless and pushed aside, they'll eventually go to wherever they will find help, even if it was not their first choice.

I have no idea what process Ms. Rabinowitz went through with her complaints. I don't know if she was told to just put it aside, it is not so important, don't make a big deal out of it or there is nothing you can do about it. I have seen in other situations,  that people were opposed and pushed aside with their issues and requests, and that drove them to those who offered help, even when it was not a natural friend. I do not think it is far fetched to assume that the "protect our own at all costs" attitude, the "silence any issues so they don't become public" approach is what is pushing people away.

In a sense I hope she wins her suit. Not to teach El Al a lesson, or to teach the Haredi community a lesson, or anything like that (though that is important as well), but so that the community leaders will take notice and start to shape up and stop pushing aside complaints and issues they feel uncomfortable dealing with. Sometimes it works, but sometimes the problem do not go away - they just get brought to someone who will make it into an even larger issue.

Adina Bar Shalom is complaining that the agreement she had with Deri about growing the influence of women in the Shas party and the authority of a women's council for the party was all a sham and election ploy.

Bar Shalom says the council, on which only she and Yaffa Deri sit, hasn't sat and they havent met with Deri at all about any issues.
source: Walla News

It is hard to feel sorry for her finding this out a year and a half after everyone else.. Everyone else knew the day the agreement was made, and Adina Bar Shalom only just realized it now. Sorry, Rebbetzin, we all thought you were smarter than that.

Ambassador Dan Shapiro stops for a tefillin break after running n the Tel Aviv Marathon on Friday...

this clip is awesome

Cohen, a resident of Kfar Tapuach, was a finalist on the show "The Voice" 2 years ago.

A beautiful rendition of the vintage masterpiece "Ani Shabbos" originally recorded by MBD on his album 'Moshiach' released in 1992.

This whole ongoing discussion about the Reform in Israel, with the Kotel, the mikvas and all that, reminds me of a story.

The story goes that the Brisker Rav and Rav Amram Bloi once had a discussion about protesting against the State of Israel for something they were doing. Rav Bloi was critical of the Brisker Rav for not participating in his protests. The Brisker Rav supposedly responded that the Neturei Karta is really a Zionist organization. He explained that in Russia they would never have protested against the government because they knew they would have been killed by the brutal police. In Israel, however, they do protest because they know the Zionists will not kill them. That itself, the Brisker Rav said, is acceptance of the Zionists.

The fact that deals were made and protests leveled and insults thrown, that the Orthodox (I heard such an acceptance in the name of Rav Elyashiv as well) were willing to give the Reform a section further way as long as it isn't in the main section, shows that the Haredi leaders have now granted some sort of acceptance and recognition of the Reform. R' Mottka Bloi was even on the radio debating and arguing with a Reform Rabba (female Rabbi).

30 or 50 years ago this would not have happened. They would not have been willing to talk at all about such an option. There would have been no deals. Anything that happened would have been against the wishes and without any compliance or agreement of the Haredi leadership.

I think the Reform can point to this as probably their greatest success in all this.

I am a bit impressed with Shas.

In contrast with their peers over at UTJ, who let the Reform deal go through quietly and only after-the-fact have leveled some half-baked criticism and threats, Shas has actually stepped up to the plate and said they were involved and everything was done with decisions by the gedolim and they know what they are doing.

Shas is taking responsibility and ownership for their acceptance of the deal. Whether or not one agrees with them and what they did and how they justify it, I am impressed they are not trying to hide behind criticism and denials and are owning up to their part in the affair.

After Meeting with Families of Terrorists: Rivlin Refuses Zahlaka entry to President's House

  -- Walla News

good for him

What did you do in two years in the Health Ministry? Only committees. In just half a year I have done more than you would do in even 10 years!

  -- Minister of Health Yaakov Litzman, to Yael German, former Health Minister, as reported by journalist Ari Kelman

true, but not becoming

The City Council of Jerusalem voted today regarding the First Station complex's operation on Shabbos. The Hared representatives wanted the complex to be closed on Shabbos, yet they lost the vote, by one vote, and the complex will continue to operate on Shabbos as it has until now.

Mayor of Jerusalem Nir Barkat announced the results of the vote stating that it is important for the complex to stay open on Shabbos as part of the status quo, and to give the ability to religious and secular to continue to live side by side in Jerusalem.

It turns out though that the vote passed because one of the Haredi representatives, Michael Malkieli of Shas, "disappeared" right before the vote, thus allowing the vote to fall in favor of the complex's continued operation on Shabbos..
sources: IBA, Kikar, Srugim, Kikar

I would assume this was planned and coordinated. Haredi reps don't just disappear on critical votes. The protest and vote was so they could show they are protesting chilul shabbos, while intentionally losing the vote and allowing it to continue, supposedly not mandated by them. Perhaps they even got something in return.

Are we seeing the softening of the Haredi position? Perhaps becoming more pragmatic?

In the past weeks we have seen them quietly allow the Reform Kotel deal go through, make a half-baked protest at the Supreme Court mikveh decision, a lot of useless talk about a nearly meaningless (because the meeting was after the fact) meeting between Netanyahu and Reform leaders (compared to the lack of protest at the more crucial voting and passage of issues, such as the kotel deal and the First Station complex), and now despite the protest they actually let the vote fall the other way regarding the First Station.

It cannot all just be a streak of bad luck, a losing streak of sorts. We have seen how when the Haredi representatives want to fight against something they go no holds barred and very loudly don't give up until they have won or until there is no choice, and they throw threats around whenever possible and necessary. Yet recently they have been very quiet while all this happens, only talking in situations that don't make a difference. Very strange.

Last year there was a report about the owner of a matza factory that ordered all his employees to get rid of their non-kosher cellphones, upon threat of a salary cut or even the possibility of being fired.

The guy is back now, as matza season gets into gear, and he is being proactive.

According to Kikar, the owner of the matza factory has announced that he will fire any employee who is found with a non-kosher cellphone, and he will pay the expected fine of 100,000nis for doing so.

On the first hand, his willingness to drop 100k just like that gives you an indication how much money the matza business must bring in...

On the second hand, good for him for standing to his principles, illegal as they may be, and being willing to put his money where his mouth is. People can break the law all they want, but they shouldn't complain if and when they are caught - this fellow is willing to pay the price if he is caught, so good for him..

On the third hand, I wish they would state which matza company this was so people would know which matza to buy (or not) that would be considered so holy and that remained uncontaminated by the cellphone...

Purim is in the air, and the awesome boutique hamantashen are starting to come out...

crazy. how do people think of these projects?

Heads of all the major space agencies, along with representatives of space industries from 58 nations, gathered in Jerusalem to participate in the 66th International Astronautical Congress.

Hosted by Israel Space Agency, it was an opportunity for the young generation of Israeli scientists to introduce their own inventions and meet the world's leading space programs.

Is it good or bad that Netanyahu met with Reform leaders? Should the Haredi parties turn this into a coalition crisis?

I understand and accept that the Ultra Orthodox position has been, for a very long time, that there is no official coordination and recognition of the Reform by the Orthodox. One of the main manifestations of this is that Ultra Orthodox clergy and community leaders will never have an official meeting with Reform clergy or community leaders.
I understand the general history of the fighting, of the division, of the split, that led to this position.

I get that, and I accept that.

But PM Netanyahu is not Ultra Orthodox.

I accept that in a "Halachic State", if it ever came to be, the Halachic leaders would most likely ban any recognition or acceptance of Reform. But Israel is not [yet] a halachic state. It is a Jewish and democratic one, not a halachic one. Israel is perhaps largely traditional, partly religious, and partly secular, but it is not a halachic state, nor is it an ultra orthodox state.

And PM Benjamin Netanyahu is not Ultra Orthodox. He is not even religious. He eats treif and does not keep Shabbos. Pretty similar to the State.

I understand the leaders of the Haredi community, that being the rabbonim, the askanim, the MKs, educators, and others, will not, and cannot, accept or recognize or cooperate with the Reform community on any (or maybe just most) issue. Definitely not publicly.

But PM Netanyahu is not a member or leader of the Haredi community. PM Netanyahu is the Prime Minister of Israel. It is his job to take care of the needs of all groups of residents and citizens of Israel, and some would say of the entire Jewish community around the world. PM Netanyahu must be concerned, in a secular democratic state, for the needs of the Jews, the Christians, the Arabs, the Circassians, the Druze, the men and women and children and elderly, the handicapped, the brilliant, the sick, the gifted, the poor, the rich, the weak, and any other type of person in Israel. Netanyahu is equally obligated and responsible for the Ultra Orthodox, the Secular, the Atheists, the Reform, the Conservative, and others.

So, I understand and accept how the Ultra Orthodox parties reject cooperation with the Reform. I don't understand how they can demand that of Netanyahu and turn it into a coalition crisis.

We will not give a prize to the Reform and leave the coalition..

  -- MK Yisroel Eichler

they are upset about a lot of things Reform right now; the Kotel deal, the mikveh decision, and now the meeting between Prime Minister Netanyahu and a group of Reform rabbis. Leavign the coalition over this would be giving the Reform a gift, a prize, and I guess Eichler feels they have already given the Reform enough prizes and they do not deserve any more.

A Jerusalem hotel is celebrating the leap year in an unusual way...

Hotel Yehuda in Jerusalem has put out an offer for February 29. Basically, if you are one of the first two couple to come to their hotel and rent a room and "make a baby" in that room on that date, that child will get all future life events for free at that hotel. Free bris ceremony (and free kiddush for a girl?), free bar or bat mitzvah, and free wedding.
source: Jpost

I do wonder, considering we are in Israel, the Jewish State, and in Jerusalem, the capital of the Jewish State, if they will be making the same offer for the Jewish leap year that is coming up soon - during the entire month of Adar II....

Obviously qualification for the prize will be dependent on a lot of legalities and conditions. I hope there will also be some sort of protection (pun intended) for the couples who win the prize. Let's say they do this and in 3 years the hotel sells out to a different owner - will the new owner be obligated to honor the original commitment? What if they shut down?

Anyways, it sounds like a good game of roulette, and at worst it might just be a lot of fun trying to get the prize.

MK Hamad Amar (Yisrael Beyteynu) has proposed a law that would put video cameras, both internal and external, on all buses, should the law pass.

Amar explains that there has been a significant increase in road accidents involving buses, accidents that have caused death, and it has been discovered that the drivers breach security protocol and even try to tamper with the bus techograf that tracks the events and his behavior. Video cameras are a necessary solution.

Internal video cameras would track events happening inside the bus, including keeping an eye on the driver, while external cameras would track the road in front of the driver along with the lanes alongside the bus. Authorities would be able to pull up, at a moments notice, the last 48 hours of footage for analysis.

This would not just be to help figure out what happened, but it would also act as a deterrent - drivers would know they are being watched and would not fiddle with the equipment and would be deterred from driving recklessly and doing other things that might be dangerous or against protocol, thus lessening traffic accidents.

Perhaps. it might work. It is probably worth a try. Public vehicles nowadays should probably be under video surveillance anyway...

interesting

important message (and, most of the kids in the clip are from my shul in RBS!)

cute way to try and get a job... though the movement of his head and eyes are a bit freaky..

There was an interesting, albeit sad, breakup of a wedding, at the wedding, that ended up in beis din.
The groom had 180,000nis written into the kesuba as the amount he would give her in case of divorce or his death.

At the chuppa, after the actual marriage, the bride did not like discovering that her kesuba was worth "just" 180k. She demanded 555,000nis instead. She claimed she was insisting on that amount in order to thwart any potential evil eye.

The argument deteriorated and the husband left.

A divorce claim was immediately filed in the beis din, along with an alimony claim of 500,000nis, in addition to the 180,000nis promised in the kesuba. She also claimed that he had caused her material loss, as she paid a lot of money for the wedding that was all lost.

The beis din decided neither side owed the other money, as they had both taken significant losses.
source: Behadrei

Does anybody have any idea what is "anti ayin hara" about the number 555,000? I have no idea. In fact, it seems strange to me that demanding more money can be against ayin hara. It seems more likely to me that more money would cause greater ayin hara.

It is sad that a relationship has to break up like that so quickly over such an argument.

MK Uri Maklev (UTJ), along with a slew of other MKs , has proposed a law that would allow a parent to miss up to 90 days of work per year to accompany a child that needs regular medical care for a serious illness. The 90 days would be deducted from the employees vacation and sick days.

Qualifying sicknesses would be anything requiring dialysis or anything approved by the Minister of Commerce in coordination with the Ministers of Health and Finance.

Obviously, the reason such a law is important is that it will allow parents to get treatment for their kids without having to worry about losing their jobs for needing to take so much time off of work.
source: TheMarker

What do parents do if they do not have 90 sick and vacation days accrued in their "account"? Most employees do not have that many days available to them. Who covers the payment for the days in excess of what the employee actually has coming to him or her?

The mashgiach of a yeshiva in Hadera, known to be associated with the "Peleg Yerushalmi" - I do not know if that is relevant or not but it has been mentioned many times on the radio so I suspect it might be - has said something that sounds, to me, totally insane.

Rav Tuviah Novick has spoken out against vaccinations, though not the normal way with unfounded claims about vaccinations causing autism or anything like that. Rather he claimed that the vaccinations are really just the State pulling the wool over our eyes. According to Rabbi Novick, vaccinations, and he mentioned polio specifically, are really just made up of baking soda and bleach, and nobody has any way of knowing otherwise.

Rabbi Novick also said that if God forbid a typhus plague would break out... it is impossible to imagine the disaster and panic that would accompany it..
source: Kikar

I hope parents pull their kids out of this yeshiva and switch them to another one. They should not let their children be educated by such a person.

God forbid if a typhus plague would break out... Does he not realize that the reason we no longer have typhus plagues breaking out is because of the vaccinations that prevent it (along with our having clean water). Does he not realize the reason we no longer have polio around us (and I grew up with a friend whose mother was confined to a wheelchair because of polio) is because of those vaccinations? Does he think that these diseases and plagues went away on their own?

I hope this idiocy is not indicative of his approach in any other aspect of his life, but I would not want my kid to be educated by him.

I have mostly avoided commenting on the US elections, while watching the entertaining process from the side. This one is too good to pass up though.

The Pope got involved and attacked Donald Trump the other day.

The Pope criticized Trump for his stance on illegal immigration and saying he is going to build a wall between the USA and Mexico.

The Pope said, "A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not of building bridges, is not Christian."

Trump's response was a bit underwhelming, in my opinion, so I'll leave that aside. Breitbart and Sean Hannity had a far better response, and that will lead to why this deserves to get mention here..

Breitbart and Sean Hannity have pointed out that while the Pope criticizes Tump for his stance in building a wall, the Vatican is protected by its own wall and they are very strict about who is allowed in and who is not.


Some of Trump's opponents in the GOP race have also made similar comments mentioning the Vatican's wall and saying the USA also has the right to decide who to let in and whom to refuse entry to...

And this leads me to the relevance to Israel. This entire discussion reminded me of an image from the Pope's last visit to the Holy Land, in 2014.



The Pope surprised everyone when he had his "Pope-Mobile" stop near the wall built by Israel and he got out and approached the wall, offering some sort of a prayer and had also criticized somewhat this wall - the Israeli separation barrier that has been pretty successful in putting an end to the wave of terror that sent suicide bombers into Israel. So the Pope has a history of being anti-wall, while not doing anything about removing the Vatican's wall or changing its entrance and immigration policy.

I wonder if the Pope was ever a fan of Pink Floyd, and specifically the album "The Wall".. considering Roger Waters as part of the band, I would suspect he was...

and I wonder if he has a position on the Women of the Wall

It looks like Yesh Atid might get the rare passage of a law proposal in an anti-Yesh Atid coalition..

MK Aliza Lavie (Yesh Atid) has proposed a law that would allow secular people and traditional people to refuse to work on Shabbos, and it would be illegal to fire them for their refusal.

Currently the law requires anyone refusing to work on Shabbos to base the refusal on religious belief and to submit an affidavit stating his religious opposition. This means only actively religious people are legally able to refuse to work on Shabbos without risking getting fired.
source: Kikar

This is surprising considering that for the most part it is illegal to operate businesses on Shabbos, with exception. So a business owner can illegally make his employees work, illegally, and they cannot refuse to work, illegally, because they are not religious.

Even in a business that is operating legally on Shabbos, the current proposal, if it passes, will do away with such discrimination on religious basis and allow people to equally benefit from the day off and not be forced to work.

This law has agreement from both sides of the bench and MKs from the coalition are signed on it as well.

Interestingly, the law was prepared for Lavie by the "Reform Center for Religion and State". I would expect, based on history, the Haredi parties to reject the proposal, despite what looks like a law they should/would agree with, just to prevent the Reform from gaining a victory of sorts with a successful law proposal on a religious issue. I don't know what they will do, but it will be interesting to see if they cooperate on this because of the law itself being in line with their ideals, or if they will reject it because of where it came from.

The IDF does not operate by slogans, such as "when one is coming to kill you, arise early to kill him". I don't want a soldier emptying his magazine on a girl with scissors.

  -- IDF Chief of General Staff Gadi Eizenkot

Gilad Erdan, the Minister of Internal Security, has since confirmed that such a thing has never happened, so Eizenkot's comments are out of place. Eizenkot's words have understandably raised a bit of a ruckus.

I guess Eizemkot's approach is the reason why most of the work protecting citizens in the current wave of terror stabbings has been left largely to arms-bearing citizens... Maybe Eizenkot should find a better approach, even if it does not entail soldiers emptying magazines of bullets into scissors-wielding young girls, and take responsibility for the country's security...

fascinating documentary

interesting topic, and story, this time.. and funny that he says to Rav Shteinman "be strong"...

great group of people, great organization

all the religious people are out of the competition..

Some people think that the reason avreichim are not in violation of their commitment (in the kesuba) to support their wives is because they have given up everything in order to learn Torah.

The real reason is that the wife has the right to waive it and absolve him of his commitment. If she agrees that he does not need to be the breadwinner, he does not need to adhere to his commitment. It is a basic part of every agreement in the world - if the second party agrees to absolving the first party of his obligation, the obligation disappears.

This became relevant in a recent divorce case. The husband claimed in beis din that becausethe gadol hador have decided that women should work he should be exempt from any financial obligations to his wife and daughter.

The beis din disagreed.

The story goes that they got married in 2014 and just a year later became parents. A few months ago they separated after he got violent with his wife - the court ordered him out of the house. The husband then demanded a divorce, while the wife wants to stay married and work out their issues.

During the divorce proceedings, he claimed that the gedolei hador have instructed that the women should go out to work and allow the husbands to learn Torah, and therefore he should not be obligated in paying her what is written in the kesuba and alimony. As well, today it is customary that women work, and she should therefore support herself.

The Av Beis Din disagreed and said he is not aware of any such directive of gedolei hador. Rather, it is based on the fact that the wife has the right to agree to such an arrangement. Rav Shapiro also added that this behavior today of the man not working but learning in kollel and the wife working is a temporary measure that was necessary to be implemented after the Holocaust. Women today who work and support their husbands so they can learn do so willingly by their own choice, and not by any legal obligation.

Interestingly, this fellow is not even learning full time, but working,. He was just trying to use the reality of women working int he haredi community and not the men to his benefit to say that she should work and support himself and he should not have to pay.

the dayan said, that despite what happens in the Haredi community as described, it has no relevance to this fellow who works rather than learn.

The beis din decided that she does not have to accept the divorce until he pays her what he is obligated to in the kesuba, and then he will have to pay child support as well and participate int he expenses of raising her.
source: Ynet

the entire argument sounds krum to me. I am amazed that he thought this was a winning argument, especially when it did not even apply to him as a worker rather than learner. The result is that workers and learners actually have the same obligations, and even if not a worker cannot try to have learner reality applied.

Researchers in Jerusalem Discover House Built Before Creation of World

  -- Srugim

Plenty of other sites have reported the latest discovery in Jerusalem, but Srugim has reported it the best with that headline... The story is the discovery of a 7000 year old house in Jerusalem, while until now it was thought that the oldest structures in Jerusalem were 4000 or so years old.

Srugim relates the discovery to the fact that we believe the world to be just 5775 years old, thus the headline that this discovered house is older than the world.

The Haredi and religious parties are proposing a new law that would circumvent a recent decision by the Suprme Court.

The Supreme Court recently decided that the public mikvahs run by the Rabbanut religious council must open its doors to Reform and Conservative conversions. As well, their beis din representatives must be allowed i to supervise such conversions in these public mikvahs.

Obviously the religious parties are not happy with this decision. MK Gafni, and joined by Shas, UTJ and Habayit Hayehudi, is proposing a law that would circumvent the Supreme Court. The law, if passed, will establish that mikvahs in Israel must operate according to the directives of the Rabbanut religious council.
source: Behadrei

I am actually surprised that this is not already a law or an operative rule of some sort. The Rabbanut builds the mikvahs and controls them, but the operation doesn't have to follow their rules? To me that does not make sense.

Anyways, I am pretty sure this law will pass, but I am also pretty sure the Supreme Court will find a way around it.

the following post has already been translated, so I am first posting the translation, and then the post..

Tell me, did women choose the president, Moshe Katzav? women chose him as well? Tell me, you are smart. How can you say such stupidity?

  -- MK Moshe Gafni (UTJ), responding to Elazar Stern's proposal regarding Chief Rabbi qualifications, in particular to the point about changing the makeup of the electoral board for the position of Chief Rabbi and including a minimum of 20% women.

Did men not choose Katzav as well? Did men not choose Olmert? Hirshson? Deri? Benizri?

In the last government there were a number of law proposals regarding the candidacy and election of the Chief Rabbis of Israel. Since then  things have been quiet on that issue.

Kikar is reporting that today MK Elazar Stern (Yesh Atid) is proposing a law that brings back the issue of the position and authority of the Chief Rabbi of Israel. I find two aspects of this issue interesting - the proposal itself, as well as the response to the proposal.

The proposal will obviously not pass, as it is coming from the Opposition, and specifically from yesh Atid and Elazar Stern, meaning even if it is a good proposal, the Haredi parties in the coalition would never allow it to pass.

Stern is proposing that to qualify for the position of Chief Rabbi, the candidate must first have experience as either an official rav of a city or as a dayan.

Besides for it seeming obvious that these should be requirements for somebody trying to be the Chief Rabbi of Israel, Stern points to the fact that the Chief Rabbis are each (dividing the authority) responsible for the various city rabbis and for the beis din hagadol and therefore should have that experience and knowledge in their background and portfolio, so as to be able to properly deal with the complex issues under their authority.

seems obvious to me, but despite that it is almost definitely not going to pass.

The other interesting aspect of this was the response to the proposal. An unnamed person from the Haredi parties commented on "how great of a miracle it is that the Haredi parties are in the government in order to be able to thwart this proposal, as if Yesh Atid was in the government it would pass easily".

I can understand playing politics and rejecting a proposal by their arch-enemy Elazar Stern and other Yesh Atid members, even if the proposal is a good one. I find it funny and ironic that they express glee and awe that they are in a miraculous situation to be able to prevent the Chief Rabbis from being qualified with relevant experience. I would have preferred them just playing politics, or explaining why they think the proposal is a bad idea.

According to a report, the tax authorities have started tracking the various rabbonim and private kashrut authorities. To their credit, the authorities say the various "badatzim" are all cooperating with them and giving them the information requested - information such as what companies they are supervising and payment details.

One comment I saw left me a bit perturbed.

The deputy director of the Tax Authority said "... we are going to use our intelligence services to check into their activities... we have hair-raising data in our hands about the expansive salaries being taken by some of the directors of the badatzim."
source: Behadrei

So what? These are businesses. The directors work hard to make their businesses successful and profitable. They don't deserve to earn a high salary? Does the tax authority say such things about bank directors, lawyers, hospital administrators, directors of the electric company, of Bezeq, etc etc etc? Only when the director of a Badatz earns a high salary is it "hair raising data"?

Just like anybody else is entitled to earn a good living for working hard, so Badatz directors are entitled to that just the same..

great interview with Yisrael Katz. They talk about political aspiration, his great work upgrading the country's infrastructure of roads, trains, ports, etc, personal life, raising a dog, weight loss and more

remember when Anat Berko proved the Palestinian claims as false because the Palestinians do not have the letter 'p'? Ahmed Tibi decided to prove her wrong..

Meir is up to his antics again..

The Palestinians are all over today.

One Palestinian official said they will never again sit down with Israel for direct negotiations. Is that a threat? They have not sat down for direct negotiations with us for a few years already, so his threat really changes nothing.

Another Palestinian official said the Jews are not indigenous to this land and they should go back to their country of origin.

ok. I am not quite sure what "country of origin" means. I made aliyah from the United States. Is that my country of origin? That is easy enough for those of us who are US expats, and those who are expats from most Western European countries. Not so sure how well that works for expats from Yemen, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Ethiopia and some other countries.

Is it our personal countries of origin or our national country of origin? Our national country of origin was Israel, though it used to be called by different names in different times (Palestine, Judea, Samaria, etc).

Do they want us to go back to where Abraham came from -Iraq? Maybe we can have a state in Egypt because we lived there for a few hundred years before going returning (after Jacob had left) to Israel.

Should we go back to a more recent country, or countries, of origin, such as where we largely came from shortly before the foundation of the State of Israel - Germany, Russia, Poland, Hungary, etc? We were not all that welcome there either. As a matter of fact, the national peoples of almost all the lands and countries we ever lived in always told us to go home and leave their countries, and they pointed us toward Israel.

I think I will just stay in this country of origin.

Today MKs Ahmed Tibi and Osama Saadi (UAL) submitted a law proposal that would limit the amount fo time the government can hold the body of a killed terrorist to a maximum of 5 days from the time the body is identified.

In the proposal they explain that holding the bodies of terrorists is leftover from the '70s and is damaging to religious sensitivities and is degrading to the Palestinians.
source: NRG

obviously this won't pass. It is even a tremendous chtuzpah to propose it. Holding the bodies is damaging to religious sensitivities but them murdering innocent civilians is not?