Life in Israel

Interesting Posts #498

2013-06-18T20:08:00.000+03:00

1. under 21 championship final, and tomorrow

2. the battle for bourekas

3. the truth hurts - MK Rabbi Dov Lipman responds to Jonathan Rosenblum's recent article in the Yated calling on the RCA to cancel its speaking invitation to Lipman

4. going in the wrong direction

5. what Waze can add to Google

6. Israel packing list

7. finding one's place

8. chief rabbinate electoral machinations

9. the mesorah of chessed

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Picture of the Day

2013-06-18T18:56:00.000+03:00

President Bill Clinton is here for the President's Conference called #Tomorrow13, as well as it being President Shimon Peres's 90th birthday celebration

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Ashkenazi or Sephardi descent of candidate does not matter for the Chief Rabbi position

2013-06-18T17:08:00.000+03:00

Thinking out of the box.

There is no law that defines who is or what makes someone Sephardi or Ashkenazi. And, there is no law that limits the position of either Chief Rabbi or any of the City Rabbi positions to specifically Sephardim or Ashkenazim. It does not say anywhere that only a Sephardi can run for the Sephardic Chief Rabbi position (or chief rabbi of a city) or that only an Ashkenazi can run for the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi position (or chief rabbi of a city).

It seems to be self-understood that only an Ashkenazi would run for the Ashkenazi position, and only a Sephardi would run for the Sephardi position, but there is no technical legal limitation.

In what is a head-scratching move, Rav Yehuda Shlush, the son of the Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Netanya, has announced his candidacy for the newly available position of Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Netanya.

Rav Shlush is not the only Ashkenazi candidate - he is pitting himself against two others, including one of the sons (Rav Moshe Chaim Lau) of Rav Yisrael Meir Lau, former Chief Rabbi of Israel and also the last person to hold the position of Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Netanya, a position he left 26 years ago. Rav Shlush isn't the only candidate, but he is the only candidate who is not Ashkenazi. Rav Shlush even justifies his candidacy by saying he learned in Ashkenazi yeshivot and knows all the customs and issues of Ashkenazi Jewry, and so is fitting for the position.

It's a bit confounding that this is possible, and perhaps it is another reason, or example, of how splitting the Chief Rabbi position to two is superfluous, and we can really make do with just one Chief Rabbi serving the needs of all the citizens no matter the racial background.

Perhaps Rav Shlush's thinking out of the box can give some direction to the candidates in the nasty fight for Chief Rabbi of Israel. Let Rav Yosef's son be one chief rabbi, and let Aryeh Deri's brother be the second chief rabbi - and they can decide between themselves which will be sephardi and which ashkenazi. Or, Rav Stav and Rav Lau can be the two chief rabbis, again working out between themselves which is sephardi and which is ashkenazi.

this solution might make the selection process easier, or maybe it just makes the competition tighter - instead of 4-5 candidates for each of two positions, now there would be 8 or 10 candidates for both of 2 positions.

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Missing the "a-Waze-ing" windfall

2013-06-18T15:26:00.000+03:00

The "voice of Waze" missed the windfall.

It seems the guy, Ami Mendelman, who made the original recording for the Waze GPS system did so on contract - rather than as an employee. He was paid 200 NIS in 2009 for his recording. Now that Waze was sold for over a billion dollars, he is upset that he was not offered more money. He says he deserves royalties.

I feel bad for Mr. Mendelman. There aren't too many feelings worse than a missed major windfall. But I do not see why any contract worker should be awarded anything beyond what is stipulated in his contract. they owe him nothing. He asks doesn't he deserve a piece of the pie, and the answer is no. No, he does not deserve it. If he included royalties in the contract, then he would deserve it. But he worked for a fee, he was paid his fee, and that's the end of their relationship.

Would it be nice of them to give the "voice of Waze" something? Perhaps. Necessary or deserving? No.

I wonder if he feels worse or better than Naftali Bennet who passed up on the CEO job that was offered to him...

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Organ harvesting the legal way

2013-06-18T14:02:00.000+03:00

Minister of Health Yael German has come up with a plan to increase the number of organ donations in Israel. Obviously her plan, if it passes, will save many lives.

German wants to change the law of organ donation. Currently to be an organ donor one must declare that he wants to be one. Sign the ADI card, when getting a drivers license, whatever/whenever. That's not good enough, because most people don't bother doing it, and then that leads us to the situation we are in where we do not have enough organs donated to save the lives that can be saved. German's changes would be basically to make the default that everyone is automatically a donor, and someone who does not want to be one must declare so.

Basically the state, if German's changes are passed into law, would be declaring ownership of our bodies, some sort of socialist or communist system of everything belonging to the State - it is basically organ harvesting from the unwitting. Most people live by inertia, unless they must do something out of the routine. They take the defaults, they don't shake things up, and often they do not even realize they have an option and/or if the default is good or bad for them. She is counting on people's laziness and lack of information to take their organs.

I am all in favor of increasing organ donation (in a halachic manner, of course) - create benefits for people who donate, go on massive campaigns to increase awareness of the need, and do whatever else can be done. Taking advantage of people's laziness/ignorance/awareness is not the right way to do this. I is, in my opinion, immoral.

The good thing is that to get such a law change passed would be very difficult, considering all the opposition it will engender, both from the religious parties and lobbies, as well as from the people who want less government intrusion into our lives, etc...

Once someone passes away, if the State is saying it has rights to the body, perhaps this means the State is declaring ownership of all dead bodies. That would mean it is the State who should be paying the arnona tax for burial plots considered by the Finance Ministry for implementation in cemeteries....

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Quote of the Day

2013-06-18T12:55:00.000+03:00

As a resident of the settlements I began to search to figure out "where is the money", so I could return it. And I have news for you. I have found the money. I have found a lot of money - 453 billion shekels.
Do you want to hear where is the money? 86 billion shekels over the last 20 years has been transferred to Gaza, to a terror organization called the Palestinian Authority.
Additional budgets added to the security services since the Oslo Accords totals 28.5 billion shekels. You checked how much the settlements cost us, now let's check how much the leftists cost us with their concept of the Oslo Accords.
The Border Patrol in Judea and Samaria, which we did not need before this, has cost us 19 billion shekels since Oslo. That is the cost of the concept of dividing the land and the Oslo Accords, it is the cost of adopting the ideas of the leftists over the last 20 years.
Before the Oslo Accords there was no need for a guard in every coffee shop, terrorists did not blow things up here.. it was not a Garden of Eden, but restaurants were not lifted into the air...

-- MK Moshe Feiglin (Likud Beyteynu)

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MK Feiglin Evicts Arab MKs from Knesset Plenum (video)

2013-06-18T11:45:00.000+03:00

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Singling out a billion Muslims (video)

2013-06-18T10:40:00.000+03:00

I love listening to Pat Condell.. he is great, he pulls no punches, he does not care about political correctness... he just says what he feels...

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F1 2013 - Ferrari - On board (front camera) with Fisichella - Demo in Jerusalem (video)

2013-06-18T09:30:00.000+03:00

this is very cool.. the view of Jerusalem streets from the camera mounted on the Ferrari Formula 1 car of Giancarlo Fisichella

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Blues for Jews (video)

2013-06-18T08:11:00.000+03:00

this guy has been starring in videos and pictures recently (in some clips he has a partner).. very talented...

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Interesting Posts #497

2013-06-17T19:14:00.000+03:00

1. bear season

2. Yesh Atid? Yesh Chutzpah!

3. bless your children, with praise

4. partying with the celebs.. I'll be there too, at least for part of it.

5. Bet Shemesh the beautiful

6. the Bayit Vegan owl

7. mysterious underwater building discovered in Kinneret

8. cardboard leining

9. modern chassidim

10. harnessing the power of social media for Israel

11. the Akiva Plan

12. Kamtza, meet Bar Kamtza

13. Seattle marathon runner catches thief

14. pink hair and compulsory piety

15. money in, money out

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Being a light unto the nations regarding foie gras

2013-06-17T17:48:00.000+03:00

MK Rabbi Dov Lipman (Yesh Atid) has been promoting a bill to ban the import and trade of foie gras - goose liver due to the cruel way in which the goose is treated and dealt with in order to fatten up the livers. The bill was proposed and then appealed by Ministers Yair Shamir and and Yiyzchak Ahronovitch. Shamir and Ahronovitch have now agreed to remove their appeal if the ban would not include personal imports but only trade - their rationale is that banning imports would be breaking trade agreements already in place with some European countries, and then those countries might retaliate and ban Israeli products.

I might note that Israel has already banned, a number of years ago, local production of foie gras due to cruelty to animals, but still allows imports.

What is interesting to me about this story is a new development.

Various news media have reported that Rav Yirmia Menachem Cohen, the Av Beis Din of Paris, has protested Lipman's law proposal, even in the possibly amended form proposed by Shamir. Cohen has sent a a letter to Shamir expressing his reservations.

In the letter he wrote that such a law would do great damage to shechita in Europe. The greens have been pushing anti-shechita laws throughout Eurpoe, and governments are sympathetic to them. How would it look for Israel to be the first country to ban the importing of these livers based on cruelty to animals when these countries have deemed the methods to not be considered cruel? Such a law would be handing the sword over to our enemies.

Rav Cohen writes that the methods have changed and he himself has seen how the geese are healthy and strong, not like it used to be. The European veterinarians also see it and they approve of the methods used and do not consider it cruel. It would be absurd for Israel to be the "light unto the nations" and prove to the non-Jews that they are mistaken and prohibit this.

Rav Cohen concludes that not only would such a law do damage to Jewish interests by helping those who oppose shechita, and it would also help our enemies in their social causes against Israel and Jews when considering various practices to be cruel and inhumane.

I agree and don't agree.

One can debate whether the methods used are cruel or not. Perhaps the methods have changed over the years, as Rav Cohen says, and maybe it should be re-evaluated. Even the new methods might be overly cruel, even if they are a bit better. I don't know and am not offering an opinion on whether or not the process is cruel.

From a halachic perspective, we generally have a rule that anything that benefits humans is not considered cruel and is not prohibited. Obviously, allowing certain practices does not mean going overboard and doing things that might not be necessary or overly cruel for no added benefit of human consumption, but in general from a halachic perspective, stuffing geese should be fine.

That being said, perhaps the methods used are overly cruel with no added benefit.

I agree with Rav Cohen that we should not help those who are looking to ban shechita in general. If somehow this promotes that, and I am not sure how (perhaps in a retaliatory manner?), then perhaps it should be "rethunk". Sometimes one should look to see with whom he is getting into bed. We don't want it to come back and bite us later.

However, yes, we do have an obligation to be the light unto the nations. If it is really is overly cruel, and I am not saying it is, than the reason given is not a good reason. Yes, we are meant to be the trailblazers in morality and proper behavior. Avraham was a trailblazer, going against the world to introduce monotheism - he did not sit back and say why make waves, and that is part of the responsibility given to us as being that light unto the nations. If stuffing geese is identified as being improperly cruel, then yes we should be the light unto the nations even if it means being the first to adopt such a ban..

Though, again, I don't personally know whether the methods used are deserving of such a categorization and, ergo, such a ban.

(disclaimer: I have only eaten foie gras once that I can remember)

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Interesting Psak: Men shouldn't wear a wrist-watch

2013-06-17T16:28:00.000+03:00

Kikar is reporting about a very strange psak by Rav chaim Kanievsky, assuming it is true.

According to the report, Rav Chaim Kanievsky has recently begun adding to his brachos given to visitors a comment that they should stop wearing a wrist-watch. Rav Kanievsky used to commonly make comments to visitors that they should grow a beard, grow longer peyyos, and the like. Recently this new comment has been his focus.

The reason Rav Kanievsky is telling men to not wear a wrist-watch is because in his opinion a watch is a woman's garment and when a man wears one he is transgressing the prohibition of men not wearing womens garments.

According to the report, his talmidim say this is not a new psak or opinion of his, but he has only just started telling to to visitors who come asking for a bracha. Somebody even recently showed him a picture of Rav Elyashiv, his father in law, in which it can been that he is clearly wearing a watch, as well as a picture of Rav Shach as well in which his watch can be clearly seen. Rav Kanievsky responded saying he knows they wore watches, and he himself used to wear a watch as well, until he found out definitively that the Chazon Ish had been of the opinion that it is prohibited.

I sometimes wonder what makes something into a "kli gever" or a "begged isha". Looking around it is clear that watches are worn by men as much as they are worn by women. And it has always been so. So, why is a watch considered "begged isha"? Are eyeglasses also going to be categorized as kli gever or begged isha? Some items are obviously one or the other, depending on their common use, but other items are commonly used by both genders so how is it determined that such an item is dominantly male or female in its usage?

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IDF setting to cut kashrut inspectors

2013-06-17T15:01:00.000+03:00

It seems strange that the Finance Ministry would be cutting the budget of the IDF Rabbinate by such a significant amount at the same time they are working towards drafting more religious and haredi soldiers who will need even more services by the Rabbinate rather than less.

The Finance Ministry is cutting the budget of the IDF Rabbinate by 25%. According to the IDF Rabbinate, because of the budget cut, they will be forced to stop having non-commissioned officers posted as kashrut inspectors. They say that they will no longer be able to guarantee that the food given to soldiers will be kosher.

From Ynetnews:

As the defense establishment is busy making large cuts to the defense budget to comply with the austerity measures imposed by Finance Minister Yair Lapid, it is one rather small cut that may prove the most politically incendiary: the 25% cut to budget of the IDF Rabbinate that may force the religious authority to withdraw many non-commissioned officers from their posts as kashrut inspectors, meaning it will no longer be able to guarantee the provisions handed out to the soldiers are kosher.
Sources at the Rabbinate told Yedioth Ahronoth this could mean religious soldiers would refuse to enter the army canteens; some went as far as suggesting hunger strikes are in the cards.

Others said the combat units, in isolation from the big bases, will be the worst hit, as their less-than-rigid kashrut standards will further deteriorate, brewing discontent.
In units positioned in the Gaza vicinity area, the West Bank and the northern border, the visits of the kashrut inspectors are irregular, and the army puts its trust in the integrity of the kitchen workers and the soldiers. The kitchens are used to store and prepare both dairy and meat products, which makes the procedures involved in keeping kashrut more complicated.
Additionally, it often happens that secular soldiers are tasked with kitchen duty, which leads to errors in protocol. "The starting point in those kitchens is not great as things stand," the source told Yedioth Ahronoth. "And removal of kashrut inspectors will lead to the effective banishment of the religious soldiers from the kitchens."
"Ben Gurion set two key conditions to the integration of religious soldiers within the military: observance of Shabat and kashrut. Should the measure be implemented, it will drive the religious soldiers away from the combat units."
Sources within the top ranks say IDF are wary of the political implications of the decision, yet acquiesce there is no alternative as even the most sensitive operational functionalities are being hit by the cuts. "Fewer inspectors will have to do more work," the source said.
The IDF's Spokesperson's Unit responded to the reports saying "The IDF is preparing to switch toward functioning within the limits of the current budget, and various proposals for streamlining are being weighed. The proposals are being examined and no decision has been made yet."

I guess how the IDF chooses to make their unit more efficient - what services to cut back on - is up to them.. but a 25% budget cut is so significant that no matter how they decide to best make the unit more efficient it is going to be damaging to the soldiers at just the point when more soldiers who need those services are going to be increasing. At least they will know which burekas are pareve and which are dairy, as they wont have enough kashrut inspectors to tell them!

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Quote of the Day

2013-06-17T13:58:00.000+03:00

(note: this is more of a paraphrase than an actual quote)
I called the police after my home was attacked. Three days later, however, police have not responded, and have yet to send a detective to take details of the incident. It is strange that the incidents have not been reported in the media, considering how interested reporters were in a previous incident that occurred in the city, where hareidi men were accused of spitting in front of schoolgirls. If they are so interested in Beit Shemesh news, here is a story they should really be telling..

-- resident of Bet Shemesh who says his house was stoned by Arabs on Friday, yet police haven't done anything about it

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Headline of the Day

2013-06-17T12:55:00.000+03:00

100-Year-Old General: We Razed Arab Villages, So What?

-- INN

I happen to agree with Brigadier General Yitzchak Pundak- in a time of war, we were attacked, things needed to be done. The fledgling country was in great danger of being overrun. But still, in today's world, that is not a good headline...

Pundak adds an interesting, unrelated, comment about former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon:

Pundak, who was the governor of Gaza in the early 1970s, said that the credit that is usually given to Ariel Sharon for stopping Arab terror in Gaza in 1971 is mistaken. He said that Sharon was an unnecessarily cruel commander who once said at a meeting with officers that he would offer champagne to whoever killed an enemy fighter – and whoever brings him a wounded enemy "will drink soda."
He said: “I told him, 'You are not my commander, I am not coming to your meetings.'”

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MK Feiglin vs. Arab MKs (video)

2013-06-17T11:45:00.000+03:00

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Channel 2 news report about Jews visiting Har Habayit (video)

2013-06-17T10:41:00.000+03:00

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Netanyahu at Auschwitz: Israeli PM opens new exhibit and vows to prevent another Holocaust (video)

2013-06-17T09:30:00.000+03:00

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Shlomi Shabat, Shaarei Tikva (video)

2013-06-17T08:18:00.000+03:00

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Facebook Status of the Day

2013-06-16T19:34:00.001+03:00

Translation:
HaRav Ovadiah: HaRav Stav is an evil person, he is no fear of God. His friends from the Mafdal testified before me.
Never before has the word "friends" had such a broad meaning...

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Beis Din paskens Eilat is part of Eretz Yisrael, but mother can't move there

2013-06-16T17:05:00.000+03:00

There is a long-standing halachic debate whether Eilat is considered a part of Eretz Yisrael or not. According to Rav Aviner it is, and he lists a number of reasons to support his decision, while according to Rav Elyashiv it is not. I think the most common psak is that it is not halachically Eretz Yisrael, and this has ramifications regarding travel to Eilat from within Eretz Yisrael's halachic borders, and with regard to 2nd day of yom tov (though some who say it is not eretz yisrael still say to only keep one day of yom tov in Eilat).

This issue also has ramifications regarding divorce.

A divorced couple in Netanya went to a beis din to discuss this exact issue. The ex-wife, who is remarried, wanted to move to Eilat with her new husband and her three children. She said that her ex-husband does not pay his child-support payments regularly, and the job offer she received in Eilat with a higher salary would help her pay her bills. The ex-husband counter-argued that a) Eilat is outside of Eretz Yisrael and b) Eilat is a city with questionable moral standards and many problems with immodesty and is therefore inappropriate for her to take their children to live there.

While acknowledging that Eilat is far away and it would be difficult for the father to go to visit his kids, they concluded that Eilat is a part of Eretz Yisrael. At the same time, one cannot ignore the reputation Eilat has among the people. However, one can find similar issues in many places around Israel, like Tel Aviv and Netanya, and especially all along the coastal region of Israel, including Netanya, where the mother actually lives.

The dayanim concluded that just like Netanya has problems with beaches and immodesty, yet the mother finds it possible to live there and raise her kids properly in a religious community to be Torah-observant, so too in Eilat as well she is able to claim that she is moving to a Torah-observant community and raise her children there.

In the end the decision was to not let her move to Eilat because of the difficulty it would create for the father to visit his kids. Despite Eilat being, according to these dayanim, part of Eretz Yisrael.
(source: Bechadrei)

I wonder if they would have prevented her from moving to Kiryat Shmona or Metulla for the same reason. It seems reasonable to not allow a parent to move the children too far away to be reasonable for the other parent to visit, but the ex-husband should be pressured to fulfill his financial obligations towards child support payments. If she is considering moving to Eilat because she cannot afford to raise her children, the lack of child-support payments must be pretty serious.

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When Shabbos falls out on Tuesday...

2013-06-16T15:29:00.000+03:00

The mishna/gemara talks about a situation in which a person finds himself far away from civilization, such as lost in the desert, and does not know which day it is. The question being, how does the person know on which day to observe Shabbos, if he does not know what day it currently is? Depending on the exact situation, the answer given is that such a person would simply choose a day and observe Shabbos on that day and count the rest of the week around that day - until he finds his way back to civilization and finds out what day it actually is.

That might be fine for observing Shabbos in the desert, but don't expect to use it to get out of work on Tuesday. In Louisiana there was a lawsuit about religious discrimination. A school teacher was suing after her demand to give her off on every Tuesday from 10 Am until Wednesday 10 AM to observe her Sabbath was rejected. Had she been lost in the desert, maybe her claim could have worked, but in the heart of Louisiana they did not take so kindly to the idea.

The court actually rejected her claim and allowed the school to fire the teacher. Not because she has not right to make up her own Sabbath, and not because she was crazy, but because the legal accommodation for religious beliefs must only be insisted upon when it does not significantly impose too much of a burden the employer. A schoolteacher who must teach on the weekdays, and the continuity of the teaching is important for building a relationship with the students, observing Sabbath on Tuesday is too much of a burden on the employer.

And, to conclude, that reminds me of the joke of the three hassidim:
Three Hasidim are each talking about who has the greatest Rebbe:

The first one says: "Our Rebbe is so great, we were walking home from schul on Shabbos and it was very hot. We said Rebbe it is so hot what can we do?" The Rebbe stopped and he prayed. And in front of the Rebbe and behind the Rebbe there was heat. And to the right of the Rebbe and to the left of the Rebbe there was heat. And in the area around the Rebbe it became cool and fresh and they all walked home.

The second one says: "That's nothing! We were walking home from schul one Shabbos and it started to rain really hard. And we said Rebbe, we're going to get sick what should we do?" The Rebbe stopped and he prayed. And in front of the Rebbe and behind the Rebbe there was rain. And to the right of the Rebbe and to the left of the Rebbe there was rain. But in the area around the Rebbe, there was no rain, and they all walked home.

The third said, "Is that all??" We were walking home from schul on Shabbos, and we spotted a large bag filled with gold coins that was lying in the street. And we said Rebbe, so much money, we could do so much work for the Hasidim, what should we do??" And the Rebbe stopped and he prayed. And in front of the Rebbe and behind the Rebbe there was Shabbos...

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Headline of the Day

2013-06-16T14:09:00.000+03:00

Getting Stronger: Daniel Maoz Victorious in the Bible Quiz of Prisoners

-- Ynet

Maoz killed his parents after getting into serious gambling debt, and since being in jail he has started getting closer to religion, and has started studying Torah - he claims to have gone from being an atheist to being a believer. After petitioning the courts, he was permitted to participate in the Bible Quiz for prisoners, which he won and has advanced to the next round of competition. There is still a question whether he will be able to continue to participate..

Some might call this an "Only in Israel" story.. others might say and paraphrase the Zionist dream of having Israeli prisoners who compete in Bible Quizzes... either way, it is pretty interesting that they have a Bible Quiz competition in Israeli jails, and an atheist murderer like Daniel Maoz can transform himself in a short period of time, participate, and even win..

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The casualties of Formula One and a nice story

2013-06-16T12:54:00.000+03:00

Formula One had some casualties as well as all the fun and excitement it generated... People's lives, specifically residents of Jerusalem, were disrupted with roads closed and the inability to cross certain parts of town. In some places you could not even cross the street - understandably so as not to get run over by a race car going too fast to stop in time.... I stood in a sunny spot because when I was there the shade was on the other side of the street, but standing on the other side would have prevented me from leaving when knew I would have to...

Channel 2 News reported on the story of a wedding that was being disrupted by Formula One. So much so that the bride and groom, the chattan and kallah, could not get to the wedding hall.

the wedding was booked long before bringing Formula One to Jerusalem was a twinkle in anyone's eye.. or at least before anything was publicized or finalized... and the wedding hall was located right along the track of Formula One - on the corner of King David Street.

Knowing they would not be able to get to the hall, they turned to the police who found a solution. The road performance would be stopped for a period of time, during which the police would drive the chattan and kallah to the wedding hall on police motorcycles.

I guess at least the bride and groom were able to be there. I don't know if the police helped the guests arrive, along with family members and the officiating rabbi or other people who needed to be there - caterer, photographer, musicians, etc.

And once this was being worked out, a police motorcycle is not all that exciting - they should have had Chris Pfeiffer give them a ride...

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