I feel like it's 1984 ...

when I read the Charedi newspapers these days. The Charedi press is simply inventing a story and writing about it. The Charedi press is full of headlines "The destruction of the Torah world" and "Israel is the only country in the world which restricts Torah learning" etc. when it is nothing of the sort. As I wrote here this is simply ridiculous. The current proposal allows those who want to sit and learn to do so until 21. At the age of 21 they need to serve. After their 2.5 years of service time they are free to do whatever they want. They can go back to the Yeshiva and sit and learn 18 hours a day for the next 50 years. No one is going to stop them, period. The only thing they need to is figure out on what whey are going to live on (like everyone else). This is exactly what R' Elyashiv did, he sat and learned all day until his kids were literally starving (see here and here), and then he got a job as a Dayan for the Rabbanut.

In reality, the Charedi world has 2 problems with the proposals:
1. Freedom of choice - Believe it or not, the Charedi leadership loved the fact that you could not work without going to the army. This forced everyone to stay in yeshiva/kollel to avoid the army. The current proposals free people up at a much earlier age which means that many more people will leave the yeshiva/kollel by choice. It also give people much more educational choice, they will be able to actually get a higher secular education.
2. It's all about money. The Charedi world as currently constituted cannot survive without government money (see this post for the details). If the government takes away the money the Charedi world will have no choice but to change and have more people go to work.

Women's names on Coke bottles cause a big storm in the Charedi world

Coke has R' Landau's Hechsher and is the drink of choice for many Rebbe's at their tishes. However, they are running an ad campaign which features peoples names on the bottle labels as you can see below.

Some bottles have women's names on them (Tali, Savta) and some have men's names on them (Shay). The Charedi world is up in arms, how can they serve the Rebbe from a bottle with a women's name on it? R' Landau is putting pressure on Coca Cola to not distribute these bottles in Charedi areas. In the meantime here is 1 solution.

I wouldn't hire Charedi women either

The Mishpacha newspaper had a long article this past Tuesday on the problems that Charedi women have in finding good paying jobs. IMHO, they downplayed the major reasons Charedi women have problems:

I. Pregnancy

Charedi women are almost always pregnant. If you hire a 23 year old Charedi women she probably has 1 child already and is pregnant with another. Over the next 15 years she will probably have a baby every 18 months to 2 years. This raises a number of serious issues for any employer:

1. Maternity leave - Every 18 months to 2 years the woman will take off at least 3 months, the employer has to figure out how to replace her for those 3 months, it is not simple. If you have a number of Charedi women, the odds are that at any given time at least one will be out on maternity leave.
2. In Israel it is practically impossible to fire a pregnant women. I saw this happen more then once where I work (a major American company with tens of thousands of employees around the world). Management decided to discontinue a product that was not selling and therefore laid off the entire team, directors, manager, programmers etc. Everyone except for the one woman who was 5 months pregnant. The company paid her not to come to work for the duration of her pregnancy she then took her 3 months maternity leave and then they paid her another 3 months until they could fire her. While no one hires employees with the intention of firing them, the ability to fire workers is important. Charedi women are very hard to fire because they are generally either pregnant or just had a baby much of the time. 
3. Pregnancy itself - Being pregnant is not easy (each stage has it's challenges) and there is no question that for at least some women it will affect their productivity

II. Large Families

Charedi women generally have large families and large families make it harder to work for a number of reasons:

1. If you have 5, 6,7 or more kids, someone is always sick and someone needs to stay home and take care of them.
2. Someone needs to watch the kids during school vacations 
3. School ends late afternoon, someone needs to watch the kids until teh mother gets home for work, or she needs to leave work early.
4. Taking care of a large family is exhausting and a full time job. 
5. Travel is very difficult if not impossible. 

III. It's a job not a career

Charedi women are brought up that work is a necessary evil to support their husband while learning and that they should not be career women. This means that they are generally not looking to get ahead etc. and will do their jobs but nothing more. It makes for good low level workers but does not provide much path for advancement.

IV.Cultural Issues

Charedi women want to work in an all female Charedi environment. What that means is that they have nowhere to advance and are severely limited in what and where they can work. If a Charedi women shows great promise it is very hard to promote here because she will then have to work with men, chilonim, and non-Jews. These days the workplace is all about teamwork. If you have nothing in common and can't relate to your co-workers it is a problem.

V. Education

Charedi woman may be well educated in the Beis Yaakov's but they generally don't have real academic degrees and in the secular world that is what counts. In all of the hi tech companies that I have worked for in Israel, they can't even get in the door because the minimum requirement is a degree from a University. Without a University degree they are limited to lower paying jobs.

In short, IMHO Charedi women have a hard time finding good paying jobs not because of discrimination but because of legitimate business and financial reasons. If I was running a business/managing a group, I would have a very hard time justifying hiring a Charedi woman because of all the issues mentioned above. 

Lakewood has no religious test for admission???

Anyone who knows anything about Lakewood knows that that statement is ridiculous. Yet this is exactly what Moshe Gleiberman, vice president of administration at Beth Medrash Govoha, said in an interview defending the states decision to grant Lakewood a $10.6 million grant to build a library:

there is no "religious test" for admission, but it does have rigid education standards.

However, people are starting to ask questions, see this article:

Now the state’s top Assembly Democrat says she is concerned about public dollars going to a college with admission standards she says resemble a "religious test." Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver (D-Essex) said students who want to go to the college must speak Hebrew, know the sacred texts and agree not to date within the first six months of schooling.

"I will tell you that I am extremely surprised by this," Oliver said. "This is not a secondary institution that is open to the general public."

Oliver sees a distinction between Beth Medrash Govoha — known in Hebrew as a yeshiva — and private Catholic schools like Seton Hall University and St. Peter’s University that she says should qualify for public money.

"Seton Hall is open to anyone — Jewish, Christian and Muslim. They have an open admission process, and any student in New Jersey can attend." Oliver said. "Not every student can attend the yeshiva."

If a qualified non-jew or a woman takes them at their word and applies for admission to make a point what is Lakewood going to do? The Charedi world attacked YU very harshly when it came to various compromises in order to get government money, yet it looks like Lakewood is basically doing the same thing for the same reason, to get government money.

With money tight and the economy bad, I guess anything goes when it comes to money.

Ner Israel repudiates Dov Lipman

Dov Lipman has said many times that he is a product of Ner Israel and that his hashkafos are based on what he learned from the previous Rosh Yeshiva, R' Weinberg.

However, the current Rosh Yeshiva of Ner Israel, R' Aharon Feldman, wrote a strongly worded letter against Dov Lipman saying:

The positions and pronouncements of Dov Lipman do not in any way represent the positions of the Yieshivas Ner Israel or the former Rosh Yeshiva, R' Weinberg

Saudi Arabia: Woman agrees to marry man only if he agrees to marry her friends as well

We tend to think of polygamy as favoring the man not the women. Yet, the Saudi press is reporting a story where a woman only agreed to accept a marriage proposal if her future husband promised to marry her best friends as well. The man eventually agreed and married all 3 women at the same time. The Saudi press reports that the women are having a great time.

Source: YNet

Interesting ads - a window into the Charedi world

The following ads are really interesting and show what is going on in the Charedi world.

The first ad is a cheap knockoff of all the Tzedaka Kupas who promise to daven for you at various holy sites. It is not clear to me whether this is serious or a joke, but just the fact that I am considering that this might be serious says it all.

The second ad illustrates the desperate poverty in the Charedi world where people can't afford a decent place to live.

Source: http://bshch.blogspot.com

Tensions rising between the Edah Charedis and the Litvish Yeshiva world

On Yom Haatzmaut, a member of the Edah Charedis Beis Din, R' Yehoshua Rosenberger from Bet Shemesh, called R' Shteinman a  מסית ומדיח. For those who know Yiddish the pashkevil is below:

The Lithuanian Gedolim have have not taken this lying down and R' Chaim Kanievsky and R' Nissim Karelitz demanded that the Edah denounce the statement. As of now, the Edah has not yet responded. If the Edah doesn't deliver an appropiate denunciation they are threatening to declare a Cherem on the Edah Charedis hashgacha and hit the Edah were it hurts most, the pocketbook.

Walking with your wife in the street is the cause of all problems

Here is a key quote: based on the power of the Torah we know that all of the problems are caused by husbands walking with their wives in the street.

Are they claiming Nevua? Ruach Hakodesh? Are there no other more pressing problems in the world today?

Hat Tip: בעולמם של חרדים

The Best Segulos

The Israeli IRS is going after Charedi weddings, caterers and musicians

The Israeli tax authorities have started questioning many Charedim who made weddings recently. They are asking them where did they get the money to pay for thee wedding as well as how much they paid the caterer and musicians. The strategy is very clear.
1. The Charedi population claims to be poor and is poor and yet somehow manages to marry off their children and pay for weddings. It is clear that at least some of this money is unreported/untaxed income that the government is after.The government is asking if make 5,000 shekel a month and spend it all to get by where did you get the money to pay x thousand shekels for a wedding?
2. The Charedi caterers and musicians are most probably not declaring a large part of their income. The authorities are forcing the wedding makers (under legal penalty) to detail how much they paid the caterer and musicians. The authorities will then match this up with what those parties declared as income and go after them for the rest.

Ponevezh is flying the Israeli flag on Yom Haatzmaut

Store dress code with a twist

Many Charedi stores have a sign on the door that women should only come in if they are dressed tzniusly (skirt, socks, shirt covering the neck and elbows, etc.). Some stores offer wraparound skirts to women customers who aren't wearing one.

A chiloni store owner put up a similar sign in the reverse direction.

You can only come in to the store if you are wearing only an undershirt and religious women can get one from the cashiers. I don't think this is serious but it is funny.

Hamodia: Create an autonomous Charedi region in Israel

Hamodia today published an article suggesting that the Charedim set up an autonomous self governing region in Israel. Autonomous meaning full self governance except for foreign affairs. The region would have police but no army.  The writer believes that this will work economically as well as Charedim will be able to work without the having to obtain academic degrees and with no problems of tznius in the workplace.

IMHO, this is absolutely ridiculous for a number of reasons. Leaving aside the fact that the government would never do this, this could never work. Where would the money come from? Who would work? You can say that you don't believe in academic degrees but the fact is that a lot of vital jobs in society require a lot of secular education. Who will serve as the doctors in such a society? Who will run the power plants? Will everything be run on Shabbos with Shabbos goyim? It is nice to say that the Charedi autonomy will have no foreign policy and no army, so who will protect it? The Israeli army? If so they will need to pay for that. The bottom line is that Charedi society in Israel today has no way to generate anywhere near the sums of money required for autonomy.

Another big question would be who would lead this autonomy? The Chasidim or the Litvaks, or the Sefardim? Who will provide the Daas Torah, The Rebbe's or R' Shteinman or R' Ovadya? There is so much internal fighting and politics in the Charedi world today I don't see how this could ever work.

Is Daas Torah a political threat, intimidation, and illegal?

The mayor of Bnei Brak was number 7 on Yahadut Hatorah's list and therefore resigned as Mayor after the national elections and moved on to serve as an MK. After his resignation R' Shteinman and   R' Chaim Kanievsky published a letter which said that על פי דעת תורה R' Avraham Rubinstein should be the next Mayor of Bnei Brak. Based on the support of those 2 Gedolim, he was unanimously selected by the city council to serve as mayor. Someone in Bnei Brak (a Charedi) has filed a criminal complaint that R' Shteinman and  R' Chaim Kanievsky's דעת תורה letter is political intimidation and deprived the people of their democratic rights to choose a mayor and therefore was illegal.

What is fascinating is the reaction on the Charedi sites (Kikar Shabbat, בחדרי חרדים) to this complaint. It seems that many people in Bnei Brak are not happy with the new mayor and the way he was selected. Many  of the comments were supportive quoting the Gemara (Berachos 55a) that אין מעמידין פרנס על הציבור, אלא אם כן נמלכים בציבור that the people should be consulted in the appointment of leaders (e.g. elections).

Here are some typical comments:
אולי לא צודק נגד גדולי הדור..אבל הרובינשטיין הזה מאז שנכנס ..הגזים ומאוד...איך הוא יכול לסגור לנו את העסקים בשעה 11 בלילה?? מה ?. כל הפרנסה זה בלילה..לא הגיוני למנות אברך ראש עיר...גם אם זה בני ברק זה לא צחוק..זה עיר..וצריך מישהו עם ידע וניסיון ..מישהו שהציבור ירצה בו!!
Maybe he isn't right against the gedolei hador... but this Rubinstein from the time he came into office .. has overreacted .. how can he close the stores at 11 at night?? All of our income is at night.. It is not logical to appoint an Avrech as the mayor... even if it is Bnei Brak it isn't a joke. We need someone with knowledge and experience, someone the people want!!
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מה פתאום שעסקנים ורבנים יסגרו דיל מעל ראשי התושבים על מישהו מסויים שיכהן בתפקיד ראש העיר או בכל תפקיד ציבורי??? ומי יודע מה כלול בדיל הזה???
אני מחזק את ידיו של אותו ישראל אפל, שאינני מכירו, על הצעד הצודק והאמיץ שנקט.
How can it be that askanim and rabbis make a deal over the heads of the residents for a specific person to serve as mayor or any other public position??? Who knows what else is in this deal???
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לא קשור לגדולי הדור. הם לא יכולים להחליט מה ומי רק כי עסקן זה או אחר לחש להם כך או כך.!!!!!!!!!
עד מתי ישלטו פה בעיר הכנופיות של פלגים אלה ואחרים??????????
This has nothing to do with the Gedolei Hador, They can't decide who and what just because soem askan whispers in their ear. Until when will the gangs of the different factions rule???
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The bottom is we are starting to see some serious cracks in the Daas Torah ideology. People are getting fed up with what is going on.

Source: זעזוע: חרדי תובע "עונש מאסר לגראי"ל ולגר"ח"

Should Kollel families have a family budget? השתדלות vs בטחון

With all of the talk about budget cuts and how the Charedi world is going to suffer and lose a lot of government money, this post (Should Kollel families have a family budget?) from 6 years ago seems even more relevant today then it was then. A letter writer to Hamodia wrote:

Kollel families receive a certain siyata dishmaya that helps them to make ends meet in a near miraculous manner. If they were to begin to keep track of their income and expenditures, they would realize that their finances just do not add up, and the husband might feel pressured to leave kollel.
...
Instead, they should have bitachon that Hashem will provide for them and not look too closely at their finances.

Lately, the Charedi press has been whining about how much money the government is going to take away from the Charedi world etc. (see for example 3064 shekel - This is how much the average Charedi family will lose under the new government) and how bad this is going to be for the average Charedi.

Let's apply the logic from the above letter to the current situation. Where is everyone's bitachon? If as the letter writer states above, kollel families receive siyata dishmaya then it shouldn't matter how much money the government cuts, they should have bitachon that Hashem will provide for them and not look too closely at how much the government is cutting.

The truth is that this really leads to a much bigger question of how does Hashem run the world? The prevalent (only?) Charedi hashkafa today is that not even a leaf falls without it being a גזירה מן שמים and that השתדלות has no effect, it is just an illusion. השתדלות is just so that we avoid ניסים גלוים (see מכתב מאליהו, חזון איש אמונה ובטחון and others). If so why be upset with Bennet and Lapid? In fact, the Chinuch states exactly this when explaining the mitzva of לא תקם. He says why take revenge on the person who wronged you, it wasn't really him anyway, it was Hashem. The same should apply to Bennet and Lapid. It is not them cutting the Charedi budget it is a גזירה/punishment  from Hashem. If anything the leadership should be doing a חשבון הנפש asking why is Hashem suddenly cutting their monetary support?

What we see is that many in the Charedi world have bitachon up to a point but when the going gets tough many suddenly do a lot of השתדלות. I pointed out a few years ago (Should we go to the best doctor?) that when R' Elyashiv needed complicated heart surgery they flew in the top cardiac/blood vessel surgeon from Cleveland (a religious Catholic) to do the surgery. I questioned this based on the above Charedi hashkafa. If  Hashem is doing the healing not the surgeon then once we have done our השתדלות, going to the doctor and having the surgery, why should it matter whether the surgeon is the best in the world or simply Joe surgeon who is competent? As long as we do our השתדלות to avoid requiring a נס, the rest is a גזירה מן השמים. If the גזירה is that the surgery will be successful, then it will be successful even if done by the average surgeon, and if the גזירה is that it won't be successful then it won't help that you have the best surgeon.


Of course there is another hashkafa, (which the average Charedi will call Kefira) that while Hashem does intervene, it is rare and therefore השתדלות not only works but is what Hashem wants. Please read the following 2 articles carefully which articulate this position very well.

האם כל אירוע מכוון משמים? בירור בסוגיית ההשגחה
משמעויות אמוניות ומעשיות בסוגיית ההשגחה

In my mind, in the modern world this opinion (which may even be the majority opinion certainly among the Rishonim) fits the world today much better.

Baked after Pesach? Really?

For some years now, not eating chametz that was sold to a גוי has become a very popular chumra. As I pointed out a few years ago (Not eating chametz that was sold to a גוי - Is it possible? and Not eating chametz that was sold to a גוי - Is it possible? Part 2) this is practically impossible, however, it hasn't stopped anyone or kept the the stores from pushing it. Here is a picture from Osher Ad in Bnei Brak.

The store sign clearly states that the crackers were backed after Pesach this year, however, if you read the red sticker it tells a very different story. The crackers were actually baked after Pesach LAST YEAR. The fact is that there is no way in the world that the stores could be flooded with products baked after Pesach a day or 2 after Pesach. It is logistically impossible which means that a whole lot of people are lying to sell more cookies.

How can you buy freshly baked bread after Pesach and still violate the prohibition of חמץ שעבר עליו הפסח?

This happened this year in Bnei Brak, a bakery opened right after Pesach and sold freshly baked bread and Harav Shriel Rosenberg paskened that the buyers violated the issur of חמץ שעבר עליו הפסח.

How can this be? How can you violate the issur of חמץ שעבר עליו הפסח on freshly baked bread after Pesach?

The answer is that the owner of the bakery was in the US for Pesach, and therefore when the bakery baked bread at 10PM the night after Pesach in Israel, it was only 3PM in NY on the 7th day of Pesach. Therefore, the owner of the bakery violated the issur of owning Chametz (since when the bread was baked it was still Pesach for him) and therefore the people who bought the bread violated the issur of חמץ שעבר עליו הפסח.

Source: Kikar Shabbat

It's all about money

If you read the Charedi press it is patently clear that the current situation is all about money. The charedi world can only survive on government money, if the government turns off the cash machine the Charedi world will be forced to adapt.

Lets compare two 30 year olds, the first an Avreich learning in kollel married with 5 kids, the second being a Chiloni, single, working in hi tech.

I. Avreich 

Non Government Income 

Kollel stipend of 1800 shekel

The wife/mother works as a teacher/ganenet - 3400 shekel a month (the truth is that this money is coming from the government as well)

Other income - Night Kollel/Friday kollel - 400 shekel a month

Total Income: 5600 shekel a month

Taxes Paid

Income Tax - 0

Health Tax - ~200 shekel

Social Security - ~100 shekel

Property Tax - ~50 shekel

Total tax - 350 shekel (6%)

Government benefits Received

Child payments - ~900 shekel

Arnona (property tax) reduction - 90% - ~500 shekel

Guaranteed Income - ~1200 (Note: guaranteed income is only paid if the wife is not working, even so about 10,000 Avreichim are receiving this benefit).

Private Elementary Schools - 55% - 75% government support Yeshiva Ketana - 850 shekel ~ 1450 shekel a month

Total Benefits Received - ~3600

II. Chiloni

Income

Salary - 20000 shekel

Taxes Paid

Income tax - ~3800 (19%)

Health Tax - ~1000(5%)

Social Security Tax - ~1000 (5%)

Property tax - ~600 

Total Tax - 6400 (32%)

Government benefits Received

0

Here is the bottom line, the Avreich is getting more then 3000 shekel more then what he is putting in while the Chiloni is putting in almost 1/3 of his income and gets nothing tangible back. 

It gets worse for the Chiloni. Imagine he is a hard worker and gets a raise to 25000 shekel a month or gets a 5000 shekel bonus, sounds great, but he only gets to keep about half of the money, 46% goes to right to the government in taxes. 

This is why the Charedi world gets no sympathy when they cry about all the money that they will be losing. It is hard to feel sympathetic when you are getting nothing and in fact paying in a large portion of your income to the system. 

There are those who claim that the Charedi world pays more then their share of taxes, I don't see how, the numbers don't lie. Yes, the Charedim pay VAT like everyone else, but even there they pay less simply because they spend less. In addition a good part of the VAT that they pay is simply the government getting it's money back from the transfer payments that it gave them. If all you make is 5600 shekel a month then even if you spend every penny that comes out to 952 shekel in VAT. The Chiloni who is taking home more then double is spending most of it (~10000) and therefore paying more in VAT (1700). 

The bottom line is that a large percentage of the population feels that they cannot afford to subsidize those who want to sit and learn. Very few people have a problem with people sitting and learning, as long as they don't want the government to support them. If you want to sit and learn and be poor by choice, go ahead, but don't expect government support.

Updated on 4/4 with a note about guaranteed income

Stop whining already!!! Everyone is not out to get you

I get both Hamodia and Mishpacha (Hebrew) delivered every week and I was very disappointed by their Pesach editions. Both Hamodia and the Mishpacha newspaper devoted a large section to whining about how  anti-Charedi the new government is, how terrible the situation is and how much money the Charedi world will lose. Enough is enough, the people voted, get over it. The Charedi world needs to wake up and realize that the country has moved on. It is not 1950 and no one is trying to destroy or secularize the Charedim. It is all about money, there is simply not enough money to continue to subsidize an ever growing number of people who are poor by choice.

The Boyaner Rebbe's little secret - His father taught at YU and his older brother works for NASA

The Mishpacha magazine in both English and Hebrew had a cover story about the Boyaner Rebbe in their big Pesach issue. What was most interesting about the article was not what they wrote but what they left out. Although they mentioned his father in the article a number of times they never explained what the Rebbe's father did, where he taught, and why he didn't become the Rebbe. They also completely left out the Rebbe's older brother Yigal from the story who should have been Rebbe before his brother. The obvious question is why? After all these are important elements of the Rebbe's biography.

The answer is very simple. The Rebbe's father and brother are not Charedi and don't fit the mold. The Boyaner Rebbe's father, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Brayer, was a doctor of psychology and respected lecturer in education and Bible at Yeshiva University in New York and a prolific author. Even though he always considered himself a Boyan Hasid in every respect, and had a senior status among Hasidim, Rabbi Brayer was firmly in the modern Orthodox world. He was the leader of a mixed community of ultra-Orthodox and modern Orthodox in New York, and devoted most of his life to academic research. The Rebbe's older brother has a Ph.d and works for NASA and his sister also has a Ph.d. These facts don't fit in with the Charedi narrative of a holy Rebbe following in his ancestors footprints and therefore have to be concealed from the Charedi public.

The Mir Yeshiva stands to lose a lot of money

One of the lesser known facts about the Israeli governments support for Torah learning is that until now the government has provided money to Yeshivas for foreign students who were enrolled. There are approximately 18,000 foreign students learning in the various Yeshivas and the government was providing the Yeshivas between 65 - 120 million shekel a year for them. That is all going to stop under the new government. There will be no more support for foreign students.

This will impact the Mir more then most Yeshivas as the Mir has over 2000 foreign students and was getting over 20 million shekel for them. Now the Mir is going to have to figure out how to replace that 20 million shekel from other sources.

Israel has a new government - some analysis

Here is some initial analysis of the new Israeli government.

I. Who is in the government and who is out

As I predicted right after the election, the coalition will be a secular one consisting of:

1. Likud - Yisrael Beitenu - 31
2. Yesh Atid (Lapid) - 19
3. Bayit Hayehudi (Bennet) - 12
4. Hatenua - Livni - 6

68 seats in total. 

The Charedim parties who desperately wanted to be in the government are out.

II. Main Issues that will be dealt with

The following major issues will be dealt with by the new coalition (over and above the regular security issues like Iran, Hamas, etc.)

1. The Draft - This was one of Lapid's major issues and he got most of what he wanted. 
1. Everyone will be drafted except for 1800 yeshiva students. 
2. Yeshiva students will be able to push off their draft only until the age of 21. At the age of 21 they will  either be drafted or do national service
3. Mandatory service time for boys will be cut to 2 years
2. Education - Again Lapid is the big winner here. 
1. Shai Piron, number 2 on Yesh Atid's list will be the Minister of Education
2. Within 2.5 years every school will need to teach the core curriculum or face monetary sanctions
3. Electoral Reform - Again another big issue for Lapid
1. The threshold to get into the Knesset will be raised to 4% (5 seats) 
2. A vote of confidence will require 65 votes and an alternative candidate for Prime Minister.
3. The government will be limited to 18 ministers and 4 deputy ministers

III. The Ministers

The issue of what ministries each party would get almost killed the coalition before it got off the ground. Here are the important ministries and who will lead them.

• Defense Minister - Likud, Moshe Yaalon
• Finance Minister - Yesh Atid, Yair Lapid
• Foreign Minister - Yisrael Beitenu, Avigdor Lieberman (on hold until after his trial)
• Education Minister - Shai Piron, Yesh Atid
• Industry, Trade and Labour Minister - Bayit Hayehudi - Naftali Bennet
• Religious Services Minister - Bayit Hayehudi
• Justice Minister - Hatenua - Tzippi Livni
• Health Minister - Yesh Atid
• Welfare and Social Services Minsiter - Yesh Atid
• Interior Minister - Likud - Gidon Saar

IV. The Winners 

The big winners are Lapid, Bennet and Livni.

Lapid

He got most of what he wanted

• A secular government
• A small government
• A draft deal which he can live with
• Education reform
• Electoral reform
• 5 ministers

Bennet

• Strengthened his coalition position
• Head of the powerful Knesset finance committee
• Took back the Religious Services Ministry from the Charedim

Livni

With only 6 seats she managed to do very well:

• Justice Minister
• In charge of negotiations with the Palestinians

V. The Losers

The big losers are clearly the Charedi parties. They have basically lost the main things that they have been fighting for over the years:

• Unlimited draft exemption - gone
• Complete educational freedom - gone
• Government Monetary benefits for Avreichim - gone, only for people who work or try to get a job

It will be very interesting to see what happens now in the Charedi world.

The other big loser is Netanyahu. With this coalition he has burned his bridges with the Charedi parties. The perception is that he was outmaneuvered by Bennet and Lapid and he has made many enemies in the Likud. You have to believe that this is his last hurrah as Prime Minister. 

The cash machine that is the Israeli government

As a followup to yesterday's post where I detailed how much money the average Charedi gets from the government today (and may lose with the new government), I would like to refer to a post of mine (The Charedi view of the government and money), from 8 years ago that is more relevant today then ever.

Here are some of the highlights with my comments from today mixed in, in [brackets]:

This made me realize that the Charedi view of the government in Israel is completely different then everyone else. They view the government as a cash machine, give us money and leave us alone. The budget is a zero sum game, whatever we can save and get for us great whatever doesn't go to us is basically lost. The Charedi population views itself as hardly using any government services (no, schools, university, roads, police, jails, etc.) [which is of course not true, they use the roads, health care, the army protects them etc.] . They also feel that they have little or no stake in the government, they don't believe in it. In addition, the Charedi population pays less in direct taxes because many people don't work, they are poor, and those who do work get a lot of money under the table and therefore when they get money from the government they don't look upon it as their tax money coming back to them. [Lately, some in the Charedi world have made the claim that the Charedim pay more in taxes then the average Chiloni and get back less, however, this is not at all backed up by any real data]  Last but definitely not least, the money the Charedi population gets from the government is in many cases the difference between making it through the month or not making it. The government money is a huge part of their income that they cannot do without [see yesterday's post which quotes an estimate from Mishpacha that it was over 3000 shekel a month a very big sum when your total income is about 7000 shekel]. Therefore, when their representatives in the Knesset bring money for Yeshivas etc. it is a big deal and is the way success is measured.

The middle and upper middle class (who vote for Shinui [this past election Yair Lapid]) sees things very differently.
1. They pay the majority of taxes and know that any money in the budget is coming from their pocket, taxes
...

It has always amazed me that the secular majority has not wiped out the money for Charedim yet, I believe that the day is coming and then the Charedi society will be in for a huge shock and adjustment. [Lo and behold that day seems to have come and as predicted the Charedi world is in shock]

3064 shekel - This is how much the average Charedi family will lose under the new government

This number appears as a big headline on the front page of yesterday's (Tuesday 3/11) Mishpacha newspaper. Here is how they came to these numbers:

I. Income Assumptions

Family Status

Married couple with 6 kids

Income

The husband/father learns in kollel  and receives a stipend of 1800 shekel

The wife/mother works as a teacher/ganenet - 3400 shekel a month

Other income - Night Kollel/Friday kollel - 400 shekel a month

Total Income: 5600 shekel a month

Government benefits Received

Child payments - 1592 shekel

Arnona (property tax) reduction - 90%

Guaranteed Income 

Private Elementary Schools - 55% - 75% government support Yeshiva Ketana - 850 shekel ~ 1450 shekel a month

II. What will be Cut

Child payments - 542 shekel reduction

Arnona reduction - 0% (no reduction)

Education - No government money, reduction of 1450 shekel

Kollel Stipend - no more

III. How will this be implemented?

There are 2 basic policy shifts which will happen to cause all of the above to happen.

1. Currently, government benefits are income based per number of heads in the household. Therefore, Charedim qualify because they have low incomes plus large families. However, the government is now going to introduce another criterion into the mix. To get low income government benefits you will have to prove that you have tried to go out and make a living, what they call in Hebrew מיצוי כושר השתכרות. In other words, if you don't work, or try to find work, you don't get government money.

2. No funding of schools that don't teach the core curriculum. Today these schools get between 55%-75% funding, depending on what they teach  Now it will be all or nothing, if the full core curriculum isn't taught the government will provide no funding.

Conclusion

I have to say that I believe that these are good and needed reforms. If you are poor by choice then that is your choice and no one else should be forced to support you. Regarding school funding, the fact is that just about everywhere else in the world there is a mandatory curriculum that every school (public, Catholic, Charedi, etc.) must follow. Therefore, it is perfectly legitimate for the State of Israel to impose these requirements as well. Somehow the Charedim in NY and Manchester and Antwerp, and everywhere else outside of Israel manage to live with that.

If these changes take place they will force the Charedi world in Israel to rethink Torah only, there is no way that the Charedi world as it is constituted today can survive these kind of cuts.

Charedi parties threatening revenge - Part 2

Many people have commented that the Charedi parties are only doing what everyone else does in politics. If you don't take revenge and make your enemies pay no one will take you seriously in politics and you won't succeed in getting anything for your constituents. In other words the Charedi parties are simply playing by the same rules of dirty politics as everyone else.

The answer to that is very simple. Religious Jews are supposed to be answer to a higher authority and are supposed to play by the Torah's rules and not any other rules. If you can't play by the Torah's rules in politics then don't play. Last I checked, there is no heter to violate aveiros for politics.

This is one of the reasons why the whole idea of religious parties is a terrible idea. Most Israelis see the Charedi world through the lens of the Charedi politicians and the political system which gives them a very warped view of Charedi society. IMHO we would be much better off if there were no religious parties like in the US and instead would influence the political system from within the large parties. While there is no question that the political system in the US is much more amenable to this because representatives are directly elected in districts, I still believe it could work here.


Part 1 is here

The Charedi parties are threatening revenge on the Bayit Hayehudi - Is that the Torah way?

The Charedi parties are vowing to take revenge on the Bayit Hayehudi party if they are excluded from the coalition including voting with the left to destroy settlements and giving up land to the Palestinians.

The Charedi parties claim that they are run על פי תורה, is this a Torah true position? The answer is clearly not for many reasons:

1. There is an issur of לא תקם, you aren't allowed to to take revenge. Even if the Charedi parties are claiming that Naftali Bennet and the Bayit Hayehudi leaders are not really religious and they are reform (see for example R' Moshe Sternbuch), and therefore the issur doesn't apply, that applies to the leaders only. The people who the revenge will actually be taken on, the ones who live in the settlements are without a shadow of doubt, religious people who devote their lives to Torah and Mitzvot. Should their lives be ruined for petty revenge? Is this allowed ע"פ דין?
2. The Chinuch explains the issur of לא תקם as follows. Since everything that happens to a person comes from Hashem what is the point of taking revenge? The person who harmed/slighted/whatever you is just the messenger, the harm/slight/whatever is coming from Hashem. If the Charedi politicians really had Emuna they would look at this whole series of events as a learning experience and try to understand what Hashem is trying to tell them, not planning revenge.
3. Are they really going to give back holy places in Israel just to satisfy their revenge? Does ארץ ישראל mean so little to them that they are willing to sacrifice it to a silly revenge fantasy?

The fact is that the whole draft crisis has been blown completely out of proportions by the Charedi politicians. No one is trying to destroy the Torah world, the Torah world will survive just fine if many of the boys spend a short time in the army.

IMHO, the Charedi politicians have shown a complete moral bankruptcy during the coalition negotiations and are willing to do anything to get into the government. Is this really the message that the Charedi world wants to put out that they are for sale and will do just about anything to get into the government? That they are obsessed with petty revenge?

There has been a set of 12 questions posted all over the internet (http://www.cross-currents.com/archives/2013/03/03/good-questions-to-ask-ourselves/ , http://haemtza.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/the-12-questions.html and others) for Charedim to answer. I would love to see some cogent answers.

Click here for part 2

Election Analysis - The left-right split is outdated

The press has been highlighting the fact that there is essentially a tie between the left wing and right wing bloc, 60 seats each.

The truth is that the whole left-right split is outdated and doesn't really apply in this election. Out of the 60 seats that supposedly make up the left wing block, 19 belong to Lapid and 15 to Labor. Neither one of them  campaigned on the traditional left wing issue, the peace process. In fact, both campaigned on economic issues and that is what this election was really about. The 2 parties that did focus their campaigns on the peace process were Meretz and Livni's party, they got a grand total of 12 seats, 6 each.  Additionally 12 of the 60 left wing seats are from the Arab parties who have never been in the government.

The fact is that it is incorrect to call Yesh Atid a left wing party. Yesh Atid is a centrist party which garnered a lot of right wing votes not on the strength of it's diplomatic plan (it basically had none) but on the strength of economic issues and שוויון בנטל.

I would split the electorate as follows:
1. Old fashioned left - main platform is the peace process 12 seats (Meretz and Livni)
2. Socialists - Main platform is economic socialism Labor 15, Meretz 6 (secondary platform)
3. Capitalists - Main platform is economic capitalistic reform (e.g. more competition, privatization, etc.) Likud 31, Yesh Atid 19, Bayit Hayehudi 11 (secondary platform)
4. Right wing - No Palestinian state, settlements etc. Likud 31, Bayit Hayehudi 11.
5. Charedim - 18
6. Arabs - 11

Based on my definition above the big winner in this election is capitalism 61 - 21.

Israeli Election Results and Analysis

With over 99% of the votes counted here are the results:

Now comes the hard part, creating a coalition. Based on the results there is only 1 person who can make a government, Netanyahu. The big question is what will his coalition look like. There are 3 major issues that the next government needs to deal with:

1. Economy/Budget
2. שוויון בנטל - draft of Charedim/Arabs
3. Palestinians/Diplomacy

Here are 4 coalition possibilities:

1. Right wing + Charedim 

Likud 31 + Bayit Hayehudi 11 + Shas 11 + Yahadut Hatorah 7 + Kadima 2 = 62
Probability - Low
This coalition has 3 strikes against it.
1. Economy/Budget - Shas will not allow major budget cuts, in general the Charedim view the government as a cash machine and will want more money not less.
2. שוויון בנטל - draft of Charedim - Non-starter with the Charedi parties, they will never agree to drafting Yeshiva bachurim
3. Palestinians/Diplomacy - Not going anywhere given the right wing characterization of the government

2. Likud + Lapid + Bennet + Others

Likud 31 + Yesh Atid 19 + Bayit Hayehudi 11= 61 + other parties (Possibilities include - Shas, Kadima, Livni)
Probability - High

This coalition is the least problematic
1. Economy/Budget - One of Lapid's campaign promises was to deal with the high cost of living and help the middle class. He and Netanyahu should be able to reach agreement on the budget.
2. שוויון בנטל - draft of Charedim - This was Lapid's other major issue, he will make sure to come up with a solution, once Netanyahu has 61 with Bennet and Lapid, Shas may join the government but will have little influence on this issue.
3. Palestinians/Diplomacy - Bennet make make this a bit difficult, but I believe that this will not be a blocker.

3. Likud + Center Left (Chiloni government without any religious parties)

Likud 31 + Yesh Atid 19 + Labor 15 + Hatenua 6 + Kadima 2 = 73

Probability - Very Low

This is talked about after every election, a government with no religious parties. This will most probably not happen because Netanyahu does not want to abandon his natural partners on the right and this coalition will be too left wing for him. The Likud has moved right with MKs like Feiglin, Hotovelly, Danon, etc. the Likud MKs will work very hard so this does not happen.

The issues

1. Economy/Budget - Very problematic with Labor, Yeshimovitch will not agree to any budget cuts, she views herself as a socialist vs Netanyahu as a capitalist, they are polar opposites on economic issues.
2. שוויון בנטל - draft of Charedim - This coalition is built to deal with this
3. Palestinians/Diplomacy - The Palestinians/world will be happy but this will be a repeat of 2004-2005 when the Likud revolted against Sharon

4. Likud + Charedim + Bennet + Lapid

Likud 31 + Bayit Hayehudi 11 + Charedim 18 + Yesh Atid 19 = 79

Probability - Low

It is very hard to see Lapid joining this constellation

The issues

This coalition has 3 strikes against it.
1. Economy/Budget - Shas will not allow major budget cuts, in general the Charedim view the government as a cash machine and will want more money not less.
2. שוויון בנטל - draft of Charedim - Non-starter with the Charedi parties, they will never agree to drafting Yeshiva bachurim
3. Palestinians/Diplomacy - Lapid may be able to have some influence here and get things moving.

Winners 

1. Yair Lapid is the big winner. His party is the second biggest and he is the king maker in terms of Netanyahu creating a coalition.

2. Naftali Bennet - Bayit Hayehudi - Yes, they did not get 15 seats and are only the 4th (tied) biggest party, but they did more then double their seats and it looks like Bennet will be a major player in any Netanyahu coalition.

Losers

There are a lot of losers in this election:

1. Shelly Yechimovitch (Labor) - Labor only received 15 seats and is only the third largest party. 3 months ago she was talking about being Prime Minister. She is most probably destined for another 4 years in the opposition.

2. Netanyahu and the Likud - The merge with Yisrael Beitenu turned out to be a bad move and the 2 parties lost 11 seats. Netanyahu will have a very tough time creating a stable coalition.

3. Tzippi Livni - With only 6 seats she is done. 

4. Kadima - In 6 years Kadima went from the governing party to being wiped off the map. After all of the soldiers/diplomats votes are counted they will probably get 0 seats.

5. The Charedi parties - While they preserved their strength and ended up with about the same number of seats, Lapid's 19 seats will come to haunt them. As mentioned above, the most likely coalition includes Lapid which will be very painful to the Charedim (shades of 2003)

6. All those people who voted for the small Right wing/Charedi parties and threw away their votes. Amsalem, Amnon Yitzchak and Otzma Yisrael took away 4-6 seats from the right/religious. There is no question that those seats in the hands of the Likud and Shas would definitely have changed the coalition landscape. 

Satmar Rebbe Undergoes "Humiliating" Search at the Airport; Will Now only Fly on Private Planes

The Satmar Rebbe of Williamsburg is flying to Israel from Miami. When he went through the metal detector it beeped and therefore they asked him to undergo a patdown. His Gabbaim tried to explain who he is and how important he is to no avail. He was forced to take off his outer garments and be patted down. Satmar Chasidim were deeply hurt by the lack of respect and decided that from now on the Rebbe will only fly on private planes.

I am not a Chosid but even so I fail to see how this was humiliating. If they want to waste money on private planes that is their choice, but then they shouldn't expect people to give them money when they come collecting.

Here are some pictures from the airport.

Local newspaper in Beitar prints a family picture in the snow and is called to Beis Din

One of the local newspapers in Beitar printed the picture below of the Mayor's family enjoying the snow.

The picture looks innocent enough so what was the problem? If you look really closely you can see that there is a woman/girl in the picture. Because of that the publisher was summoned to Beis Din to explain himself how he could publish such an "un-tznius" picture.

Source: ביתר: פרסם את תמונת רעיית ראש העיר וזומן לבית דין

Wanna make a quick and easy $100?

Just promise the Satmar Rebbe of Williamsburg that you won't vote in the Israeli elections (and violate the greatest aveira there is) and he will give you $100. In fact, the offer is open to all Israeli citizens including the non-religious. All you need to do is deposit your id card and any other identifying documents that would let you vote with the Satmar office before the election (so you can't break your promise) and they will give you the money.

Of course there is one problem. The whole scheme is illegal under Israeli law but that has never stopped Satmar yet.

How much does a Penthouse in Gan Eden cost?

According to this ad it is really cheap, only 1600 shekels. If this is not outright theft in the name of tzedaka, then I don't know what is.

Fool me one shame on you fool me twice shame on me - Why would anyone vote for Tzipi Livni?

All she has done is been a disaster. It is beyond me why anyone would vote for such a loser. The woman had her chance as foreign minister and then as the leader of Kadima and did nothing, in fact worse then nothing she did damage. She was the worst ever opposition leader and was destroyed in the Kadima primaries by Shaul Mofaz. Can someone explain what she has to offer?

The fact is that the polls give her party about 7 seats. Assuming that they are relatively on target, then what? She did nothing as opposition leader so what do people expect her to do as the leader of a small opposition party? It just makes no sense. She has to be reading the polls, what is she thinking? Is she completely deluded?

The politicians in Israel are absolutely shameless. The 7 who left Kadima are worthless losers, however, they are bringing a lot of money and in return they will get a Knesset seat for another years. The system here is broken beyond repair, all the jumping around, splitting has exposed the absolute bankruptcy of the current list based system.

Why did חז"ל make so many גזירות related to carrying on Shabbos?

Daf Yomi just started the 6th פרק of Shabbos which deals extensively with גזירות related to carrying on Shabbos. The Gemara has extensive discussions about what jewelry women can wear on Shabbos, what are animals allowed to go out with, etc. all גזירות  in fear of the person violating the איסור דאורייתא of carrying 4 אמות in a רשות הרבים. It is patently clear that in the the time of חז"ל that they felt that this was a very valid concern as we know that that חז"ל followed a number of rules when making גזירות, two of them being:

1. מילתא דלא שכיחא לא גזרו ביה רבנן - We don't make גזירות for far-fetched cases.

2. we don't make a גזירה לגזירה - We only make גזירות to protect people from violating an איסור דאורייתא, we don't make גזירות to protect people from violating an איסור דרבנן.

Based on the above חז"ל would only have made all of these גזירות  regarding carrying if there was a real concern that people would violate the איסור דאורייתא of carrying in a רשות הרבים. What this means is that there must have been MANY places deemed רשות הרבים in existence in Israel (and Bavel) otherwise they never would have made all of these גזירות as it would have been a מילתא דלא שכיחא and/or a גזירה לגזירה.

However, this is very very difficult. תוספות on 64b already makes the claim that we don't have a רשות הרבים דאורייתא nowadays because we don't have 600,000 people and our streets aren't wide enough. This opinion of Rashi and Tosafos has been accepted להלכה and is the basis of all city עירובין. But, if this is true, then how in the time of חז"ל did they ever have a רשות הרבים דאורייתא? Why would they make all of these גזירות if they didn't? It is not believable that in the time of חז"ל the population of the cities in Israel was larger then today. The only city today, in 2012, with a population over 600,000 is Jerusalem and only a fraction of that is in the old city (which is the only part of the city that existed 2000 years ago and in fact was smaller then it is today). Every other city in Israel today has a population less then 600,000 people. There is no way that in the times of חז"ל the cities were anywhere near as large given what we know of the population etc.

In short, how could it be that in the time of חז"ל two thousand years ago they were so worried about people violating an איסור דאורייתא of הוצאה when we can't find a רשות הרבים דאורייתא today? Brooklyn, with a population of 2.5 million people (larger by far then any city 2000 years ago) is the only place that I have heard of that there even is a discussion about. There are עירובין in every large city in Israel (based on the presumption that the city is not a רשות הרבים דאורייתא) and many large cities/communities in America.  How do we reconcile this with the many גזירות that חז"ל made regarding carrying on Shabbos (including canceling the miztva of Shofar when Rosh Hashana falls out on Shabbos)? How come חז"ל felt that a רשות הרבים דאורייתא existed and we don't?

Party primaries in Israel, democracy at work or a big joke?

Yesterday I voted in the Likud primaries and I have to say it is a big joke. There is nothing remotely democratic about it.

The way the system works is that every voter has to pick a list of candidates that they want to serve in the Knesset. In the Likud voting yesterday every voter had to pick 12 national candidates. There are a number of glaring problems with the system:

1. There is no ranking. Everyone you pick is equal. Imagine you have a few candidates you think are really worthy so you vote for them. Now you have to vote for another bunch of candidates just so your ballot is valid. In other words, your vote for some Joe Shmo as your 12th pick who you know nothing about counts as much as your number 1 pick. Just to be clear, you HAD to vote for 12 candidates for your vote to be registered.
2. You end up voting for people that you never heard of and know nothing about. What ends up happening is that every serious candidate makes up lists of recommended people and that is who people vote for even though you have no idea who half the people are.
3. There are all kinds of deals and revenge lists. Every serious candidate has workers at every polling station giving out their recommended list of who to vote for. Every person that I saw at the polls (including myself) had a printed list with 12 numbers (the people to vote for). The system lends itself to gross manipulation by organized groups.

This is not just a problem with the Likud. All of the parties with primaries (which is not too many) have basically the same system because they all need to pick a list of people for the Knesset..

It is clear that the only solution is a district based system where every MK is elected from a district and then you can have district based primaries.

I have a few posts about election reform from a few years ago, unfortunately there has been a lot of talk but no action.

The electoral system in Israel is broken ...
Election reform in Israel

How many times does a form of the word מלאכה appear in the Torah? (Shabbos 49b)

Todays's daf (Shabbos 49b) attempts to find a source for the idea that there are 39 melachos on Shabbos. The Gemara says that the various forms of the word מלאכה appear in the Torah 39 times.

However, there is a big problem. In actuality the various forms of the word מלאכה appear 65 times in the Torah. Many of the Rishonim in Shabbos quote R' Chananel that it appears 61 times and they are bothered by this obvious contradiction.

The Rishonim and Acharonim give a number of answers:
1. R' Chananel (quoted by the Ramban, Rashba and others) - The Gemara only counts the word מלאכה when it is written in the context of an act that is forbidden on Shabbos. This excludes things like מלאכה when described in Bereishis, etc. This also excludes all the references to מלאכת עבודה  by Yom Tov since all 39 מלאכות are not prohibited on Yom Tov.  According to this, the number of remaining appearances of the word מלאכה is thirty-nine if you start with 61 (see above). However, this is very difficult as we know that מלאכה really appears 65 times and therefore we are left with 43 not 39.
2. The תוספות יום טוב (Shabbos 7:2) explains that the Gemara excludes all appearances of the word מלאכה  that appear in the context of לא תעשה מלאכה. The תוספות יום טוב claims that the count, not including all of these, comes to a total of thirty-nine. However, this is simply not true as the תוספות יום טוב missed a few occurrences.
3, The מראה פנים says that the word מלאכת is not included in the count, however, this is difficult for a number of reasons. Firstly it does not get the count down to 39, secondly the Gemara explicitly says that מלאכת is included in the count.

This is one of those very difficult Gemaras which seems to imply that the text of the Chumash that we have is not even word perfect with that of the Amoraim and Rishonim (R' Chananel's 61 versus our 65 versus's the Gemara's 39). In fact, R' Akiva Eiger (Shabbos 55a) collects over 20 cases from all over Shas, medrashim, etc. where our mesora differs from either Chazal's or the Rishonim (see Does our sefer torah have an extra letter(s)? for more).

Charedi leadership tone deaf? Is now the time to call for tefilos against the draft? Updated

The Charedi leadership is calling for 3 days of tefilos and learning against the draft. While that is very nice, you have to question whether now is the time to do this. With a mini-war going on in Gaza, the Northern front with Syria heating up and the reserves being called up it doesn't seem like this is the time to emphasize the Charedi world's non-service in the army. Would it not have been better to call for 3 days of learning for the safety of the soldiers fighting and the people in the South under attack and leave the draft issue until things calm down?

Here is the article from Thursday's Yated Neeman:

The rockets are flying in the South, the Yeshivas are running away to the North

This discussion comes up every time the South of Israel comes under rocket fire (see for example my post from 2009 Yeshivas are moving north out of danger, what about the protection of Torah learning?) Should the yeshivas move out of those areas? According to reports (See for example בהוראת הרבנים: הישיבות לצעירים נוטשות את הדרום ) both R' Shteinman and R' Chaim Kanievsky have told the yeshivas to leave the South and come to Bnei Brak.

On one hand the move is understandable, with rockets landing in Ashdod, Ofakim, Kiryat Malachi, etc. they want to move to a safer place. However, on the other hand, this raises some serious questions. The Charedi world justifies the draft exemption for yeshiva students based on the following:

1. Torah learning protects everyone
2. The boys are engaged in מלחמתה של תורה
3. Talmidei Chachamim don't need protection

Based on these it would seem that the Yeshivas should stay where they are. If the boys who are learning are engaged in war just like the soldiers why should they abandon their posts? In addition if Torah learning protects, let them stay where they are and be protected by their Torah.

Charedi Seminary in Bnei Brak is offering a course in developing smartphone applications

According to newspaper reports one of the prestigious seminaries in Bnei Brak is starting a course to teach girls how to develop smartphone applications.

Isn't this ironic, on one hand, the Charedi rabbanim are railing against smartphones and on the other hand the wives of Kollelnicks will be writing applications for those very same smartphones.

A Charedi spokesman offered the following explanation:
This is the crux of the conflict of the Charedi world with technology. On one hand it causes great damage, Yeshiva students are addicted to their iPhones and plummet in their level of religiosity. On the other hand, the world is moving ahead and people can make a good living from this.

The question we need to ask is how far will the Charedi world allow the women to go in supporting their husbands in learning? To develop smartphone applications you need a smartphone at some point (simulators/emulators are only good up to a certain extent, at some point you need to test on a real phone). What kind of rules will they need to invent to control the smartphone usage? Will it work? What will be the effect on the women?

This is a perfect example of the quagmire that the Charedi world is in today. You either need to become like the Amish and shun ALL modern technology or you need to embrace it, it is all but impossible to take a middle ground.

Source: ב"בית יעקב" בבני-ברק ילמדו לפתח אפליקציות

R' Hirsch: Chinuch lessons from Yaakov and Esav

This post, R' Hirsch: Chinuch lessons from Yaakov and Esav, from three years ago is just as relevant today as it was then. Please take a look and read it.

Was עשו created as a רשע?

The answer according to the way the Maharal understands Rashi at the begining of this weeks parsha seems to be yes. Rashi on the pasuk ויתרוצצו הבנים, quotes the famous medrash that whenever Rivka passed a house of avoda zara עשו tried to get out. Rashi a few פסוקים later comments on the phrase ממעיך יפרדו

 מן המעיים הם נפרדים זה לרשעו וזה לתומו

From Rashi it seems clear that already in the womb Eisav was a רשע who wanted to worship avoda zara. The obvious question is why?

The Maharal points out that a person has no yetzer hara until he is born. The Maharal (http://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?sits=1&req=14210&st=%u05D5%u05D9%u05EA%u05E8%u05D5%u05E6%u05E6%u05D5) says

 אבל כאן מה שעשה עשו לא בשביל יצרו אלא מפני שהיה עשו רוצה לצאת לשוב אל מינו וטבעו שכל דבר ודבר מתעורר אל טבעו לפיכך כשבא יעקב לבתי מדרשות היה מתעורר אל רוח הקודש ומתעורר לצאת בטבעו וכן עשו כאשר היתה באה לפני בתי ע״ז ולא משום יצרו הרע.

Basically the Maharal says that Esav wanted to return to his nature (which was a rasha from creation and Yaakov wanted to return to his nature which was קדוש from creation). עשו wanted to worship avoda zara not because of a choice he made but rather because that was how he was created, that was his nature. The Maharal makes a similar comment in Parshas Noach (8,21, http://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=14210&st=%d7%aa%d7%95%d7%9c%d7%93%d7%95%d7%aa&pgnum=65&hilite=f4e448d5-7b3a-4e5a-81fc-6eb9c7a1c0ac bottom of the second column):

ובבטן אמו אפשר לו לעשות מעשה רע ואין לו יצה"ר רק שהוא פועל כך בטבעו לפי שהוא רשע מבטן

 The Maharal says explicitly that a person can do bad things without a yetzer hara but rather because he was created a רשע.  

This raises some very troubling questions.

Isn't one of our fundamental beliefs that a person is NOT born a רשע but has free will? How does this fit in with this Maharal? How else can we explain why Eisav wanted to worship avoda zara in the womb according to the Medrash quoted by Rashi? This also raises questions as to the greatness of Yaakov. If Yaakov was created with a natural instinct to go to the Beis Medrash then he did not choose to be a צדיק but rather was born one, just as it seems עשו did not choose to be a רשע but was born one.

Take a shower and become טמא?

Yesterday's daf (Shabbos 14a) has a whole slew of gezeras relating to טומאה and טהרה. Among them is a gezera that anyone who pours 3 קבין of water on themselves becomes a שני לטומאה and is מטמא תרומה. It is generally assumed that nowadays a shower does this. The reason given for the gezera is that the chachamim were afraid that people would think that the washing after going to the mikva is really what makes you טהור and not the mikva. Although this gezera has no relevance nowadays, when the Beis Hamikdash is rebuilt and we have תרומה this will be very relevant, anyone taking a shower will become טמא and need to go to the mikva.

It is also interesting that Ezra was מתקן טבילת עזרה for טומאת קרי so that people would show restraint.  בדיעבד if you pour 3 קבין of water on yourself (e.g a shower) it is good for טבילת קרי and takes away that טומאה which is quite חמור, you aren't allowed to learn, and replaces it with a less severe טומאה.

Of course these are all dinim d'rabbanan. When the Beis Hamkidash is rebuilt and we have a Sanhedrin and מלאה הארץ דעה, the Sanhedrin may decide to be מבטל some or all of these gezeros given the changes in lifestyle.

The Mordechai applies this gezera in the gemara (if you take a shower after going to the mikva you are טמא) to hilchos nidda. The simple understanding of the gemara is that the chachamim made up a new טומאה and therefore it has no relevance to hilchos nidda. The Mordechai however learns that the pshat is that taking a shower cancels the tevila, and therefore a woman who goes to the mikva and then takes a shower is prohibited to her husband. We are machmir for this Mordechai לכתחילה. The poskim have different shiurim for how long she can't take a shower. One shiur given is until she is נוהג היתר with her husband, after that it is clear that the mikva was matir and not the shower.

Making a מי שבירך for sick people on Shabbos

The daf a few days ago (Shabbos 12) discussed ביקור חולים on Shabbos. The gemara says that someone who goes to visit a sick person on Shabbos should say שבת היא מלזעוק ורפואה קרובה לבא to the sick person. Rashi explains, we are telling the sick person to try not to be sad because it is shabbos and a person is supposed to be happy on shabbos. The Ran has a different peshat. He says we are telling the sick person that since it is shabbos we can't daven for him.

Rashi's peshat fits in better with the מי שבירך לחולים, we say the מי שבירך and then we tell the people in shul, don't be upset about the sick person it is shabbos. However, according to the Ran it is a bit difficult, we are contradicting ourselves, we just said a prayer for the sick person and we end off by saying we really aren't allowed to daven for you. The fact is that the whole idea of making the מי שבירך לחולים specifically on Shabbos is very strange. Shabbos is the one day when we aren't supposed to be sad and daven for sick people and yet we specifically say it then.

Proof positive that the internet is here to stay in the Charedi world

Every week on Tuesday, Yated Neeman (in Hebrew) is distributed for free. I always find it a fascinating read, especially the ads/kol korehs, letters and op eds. Lately, every week they publish an anti internet piece on the front page and this week was no exception. However, what is fascinating is that many of the letters that people are writing now have email addresses for responses. This week, there was a letter from someone promoting a phone line where you can call and hear the "Gedolim" talk about how bad the internet is etc. What was absolutely astonishing was that in the letter the writer asked that anyone who had new material (e.g recordings) should EMAIL them to him. Of course he wrote in parentheses that he has kosher internet, but that is besides the point. The irony is unbelievable, an anti internet crusader was using the internet to get material. There were other letters as well which provided email addresses for feedback. It is clear that even in the real/conservative Charedi world email (and by extension the internet) is becoming an indispensable tool.

Cute anti-Obama ad

Interesting Yom Kippur numbers

Of the Jewish population in Israel, 64% fasted and 46% davened/went to shul on Yom Kippur.

The Physics of Superheroes as applied to עוג מלך הבשן (Berachos 54b)

Today's daf (Berachos 54) has 2 interesting discussions which relate to the size of Og. First the Gemara has a story that Og wanted to destroy the Jewish people by throwing a mountain on them. The Gemara says that the Jewish camp was 3 parsa by 3 parsa (approximately 12 square km) so Og picked up a mountain that big to throw on them (see the Gemara for how they were saved). Og obviously had to be quite huge to pick up such a large mountain. Later, the Gemara comments that Moshe was 10 amos tall, had a weapon 10 amos long, and jumped 10 amos to strike Og and only reached his ankles. Even using the smaller shiur of an ama, 18 inches, Og's ankle was 45 feet off the ground, meaning that he was 300-400 feet tall.

The Chafetz Chaim (או"ח סי' רי"ח) takes the first story quite literally. However, from a strictly rationalist/scientific viewpoint it is very difficult to take these gemaras literally, and in fact, both the Rashba and the Maharsha do NOT take these stories literally.

On one of my trips to the US I bought a fascinating book called, The Physics of Superheroes, which explains many of the basic principles of physics using examples from comic book superheroes. One of the superheroes that he discusses is Giant Man, his power being that he could increase his size when needed. In his discussion in the book he points out that the size that a person could grow to is limited by the strength of materials (particularly bone) and gravity. A person's size is ultimately limited by the cube square law. For simplicity's sake let's model a person as a box. A box's volume is a product of length x height x width so a box that has a length, width and height of 5 feet (our person model) will have a volume of 125 feet cubed. Now assume that he grows to 4x times these proportions (20x20x20). He will now have a volume of 8000 cubic feet, in other words quadrupling his length increases his volume by a factor of 64. Now we need to consider density and mass. It makes sense to say as a person grows his density stays the same (otherwise he would simply thin out into nothingness). To maintain a constant density means that mass must increase at the same rate as volume so quadrupling height increases weight by a factor of 64. The problem is that as weight increases the ability of the skeleton to support that weight does not. The strength of an object depends on how wide it is, it's cross-sectional area. In our case here volume and mass increase much faster then the cross -sectional area of the bones. Let's take the following simple example of someone who is 6 feet tall and 185 pounds. A single vertebra can support approximately 800 pounds. Now lets increase his height by a factor of 10 to 60 feet. His volume and mass grow by 1000 while his cross-sectional area only grows by a factor of 100. His vertebra can now support 80,000 pounds but his weight is now 185,000 pounds, meaning that his skeleton can no longer support his weight.

The bottom line is that if Og was between 370 and 400 feet tall his body would collapse of it's own weight. It is a matter of simple physics.

 Of course we could come up with all kinds of miracles and believe anything, but we know that Hashem tries to limit miracles and the world works with nature (the laws of physics). Therefore it doesn't make sense to assume that Og simply being able to stand (against the laws of physics) was a miracle and therefore the non-literal explanations of the Rashba and Maharsha (and probably others) are very useful here.

I would love to drive here

Using electronic water meters on Shabbos

2 months ago I posted about this and various people suggested some possible halachic justifications. In today's Yated Neeman there was not 1 not 2 but 3 separate "Kol Koreh's" against using ANY kind of electronic water meter. They write in the name of various gedolim (see below) against using heterim based on safek pesik reisha or grama as they are דימויים מפופקפקים מאד. The only electronic water meter that can be used is one where the electronic component can be completely turned off for Shabbos and it will mechanically measure the water on Shabbos. This approach may work in Israel where the Charedim are a big enough population for the water carriers to accommodate them. However, this will not work in chu"l even in a place like NYC, kal v'achomer in a city with a small religious population. The poskim will need to deal with the issues of electronics on Shabbos and come up with a position that people can deal with or we will need to become Amish.

The "Jewish Dwight Howard"

Northwestern’s newest big man is a hard-working, yarmulke-wearing potential steal

Aaron Liberman attended an 86-student Jewish high school near Los Angeles with no basketball gym on campus. He passed up interest from USC, Boston College and several mid-majors to be part of the Northwestern program. And his highlight videos feature so many dunks and blocked shots against small-school opposition that one website christened him the "Jewish Dwight Howard."



It will be interesting to see how this plays out especially with Shabbos and wearing his yarmulke during games. I hope he succeeds.

carryandcash.com - Social shipping and delivery, is this really a good idea?

In the OU Torah tidbits this past week the following ad appeared:

Carry and Cash will connect people who have packages to send to people who are traveling who will take the package for a small fee. Sounds great at first but there are a number of major problems.

1. Security - We have all heard about people being arrested for carrying contraband given to them by a third party. In fact, cash and carry explicitly state on their website that you should "Unpack & Repack" every item. By doing that you are supposed to verify that what you are taking is legitimate. However, that is not always so simple. What happens if someone hides contraband in an innocent looking object such as someone gives you a stuffed animal to transport stuffed with illegal drugs. You won't detect this by simply unpacking and repacking and if you are caught you will go to prison for a long time. Do you really want to take that chance for a few bucks?
2. It may be illegal. Most countries allow travelers to bring a small amount of goods into the country (in Israel for example up to $200) for personal use. However, there is no such allowance for commercial purposes so even if you are bringing in a $5 item for someone (and getting paid for it) you may strictly speaking have to declare it at customs etc.
3. Liability - As I mentioned above you are supposed to "Unpack & Repack" every item. What happens if you repack the item and it gets damaged? What if it is stolen on the way? Who is liable?

Better to be a Ganenet then to work in Hi Tech

And the woman should be home for the children in the afternoon.

This all sounds great except that who is going to pay for this? The husband is of course learning in Kollel, so the wife is the main breadwinner. How exactly are you supposed to support a large family on a kollel stipend and a Ganenet's salary and then to top it off buy your children apartments when you marry them off?

Source: הגראי"ל: "עדיף לעבוד כגננת מאשר בהיי-טק"