Security Council resolution 1701 has completely failed

Officials: 1701 on verge of collapse

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, passed to stop the Second Lebanon War, is on the verge of collapse as Syria continues to rearm Hizbullah, senior defense officials warned Tuesday night ahead of a scheduled security cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
...
"Syria is rearming Hizbullah at a rapid pace and this is proof that 1701 has completely failed," one official said.

This is not exactly unexpected. I hate to say it but I told you so. I had a series of posts where I discussed the resolution and how it wasn't worth the paper it was written on. Believe it or not, I may have been too optimistic. I wrote:

How the ceasefire may play out

The situation in Southern Lebanon is basically back to where it is on July 12th, 2006

In fact, the situation today is much worse then it was July 12, 2006. Hezbollah has more rockets and more advanced weaponry then it had 2 years ago.

What airline should you fly on?

According to the ועד לעניני תחבורה the main criteria is whether or not the flight has movies shown. They split up the airlines into 3 groups.
Preferred - no movies shown
Second choice - movies but only on a personal screen which can be shut off
Third Choice - movies on a main screen

On the Tel Aviv - NY route for example, there are no Preferred airlines. Continental and British are second choice and El Al is third choice (because they have some planes without personal screens and the movies they do show are particularly bad (according to the Vaad). I wonder how they know this? Who watched the movies for them and compared?).

For some reason, they left out some popular airlines on the Tel Aviv - NY route. I know from personal experience that Lufthansa is very popular. They would probably be a third choice because on their trans-atlantic flights they have a lot of planes with movies on the main screen. They also left out Delta which has a non-stop flight Tel Aviv - NY as well as Tel Aviv - Atlanta.

Interestingly enough, Arkia and Israir are prohibited completely.

You can see the whole list below:

The dollar is still worth 4 shekels according to the Gedolim

The dollar hasn't been anywhere near the 4 shekel mark in a very long time but Areivim is still insisting on pricing in dollars at 4 shekel to the dollar. This month they will be collecting $5.6 at 4 shekel to the dollar. This obsession with the dollar is really strange, why they can't just say they are collection 22.4 shekel is beyond me.

Winograd commission member - PM should have been removed from office

Yechezkel Dror, one of the members of the Winograd commission that investigated the Second Lebanon War had very harsh criticism for the political system in general, and specifically PM Olmert:

A Severe Verdict That Didn’t Go Far Enough

... As a member of the commission, I expected that the Cabinet would resign or be dismissed after the interim report appeared. Indeed, the chief of staff honorably resigned, and the minister of defense was made to leave. The prime minister, however, did not resign, nor was he forced to leave. I do not think this would have happened in any other parliamentary democracy.
...
In retrospect, I think I erred in trusting the political system and the public to do what was obviously required in light of our harsh findings, namely to remove the prime minister from office. I did not expect such dismal behavior motivated mainly by narrow party interests and personal career considerations on the part of many members of the Knesset (with some distinguished exceptions). I regret that I did not insist on making an explicit institutional recommendation that, because of his grand failures, the prime minister should not continue to serve, even if this might have been regarded by some as deviating from the legal limitations imposed on the commission. This recommendation is all the more urgent and valid in light of developments since publication of our final report.

Buy segulos online

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Here you can get holy coins from Lizensk


This is an absolutely terrible phenomenon which makes Judaism into a joke.

How many strings of תכלת?

Recently I have seen in a number of places people recommending to wear 1 string of techeles like the Rambam.

Regarding the number of strings of techeles there seems to be 3 different opinions in the Rishonim:
1. Rambam (הל' ציצית פרק א' הל' ו) writes that 1 out of the 8 strings should be תכלת
2. The Raavad there disagrees and says that 2 of 8 strings should be תכלת
3. Rashi and Tosafos in מונחות ל"ח hold that half of the strings (4) should be תכלת

Those who wear like the Rambam make the following חשבון. They say that according to the Rambam if you put on more then 1 (out of 8) strings of Techeles, you are not יוצא the mitzva of ציצית at all while according to everyone else while you are not יוצא techeles (with 1 string) at least you are יוצא the mitzva of ציצית.

I don't find this argument very compelling. One of the arguments to wear techeles nowadays is that since it is available, if you don't wear it you are עובר בל תגרע. However, if you only wear 1 string you would still be עובר בל תגרע according to Rashi and Tosafos.

The fact is that almost all the חכמי אשכנז (Maharam MiRutenberg, Mordechai, Rid, Semak, etc.) pasken like Rashi and Tosafos as well as both the Rosh and the Tur.

The majority of acharonim (who discuss the issue) also seem to pasken like Rashi and Tosafos.

Taz - או"ח סימן ט' סעיף ב'
בזמן שהיה תכלת מצוותו שיקח שני חוטין וכו': דכתיב גדילים תעשה לך אין גדיל פחות
משנים - גדילים ארבע והיינו שני מינים וסברא שיהיו שני המינים שווים שני חוטים מהאי
מינא ושנים מהאי מינא

Mishna Berura - סימן ט' ס"ק ז paskens like Rashi and Tosafos (half techeles half white):

בזמן הזה - פי' דבזמן שהיה תכלת שהיה צריך להטיל ד' חוטין שני חוטי לבן ושני חוטי
תכלת

Shulchan Aruch Harav - הל' ציצית סימן ט' סעיף ד'

י"א שאין ציצית של צמר ופשתים פוטרין בבגדים של שאר מינים אלא א"כ יהיו הציצית צמר
ופשתים יחדיו דהיינו ב' חוטין תכלת וב' חוטין פשתים...

The bottom line is that the Ashkenazi psak would seem to be clearly like Rashi and Tosafos that you need 4 strings of techeles. The Taz, Shulchan Harav and the Mishna Berura are the עמודי ההוראה for Ashkenazi psak. Therefore, I don't understand how anyone can recommend to an Ashkenzi to follow the psak of the Rambam.

I have heard that this is how RHS and R' ZN Goldberg pasken as well, to put on 4 strings of techeles.

Another Hasidic succession battle - Vishnitz

The Viznitzer Rebbe has 2 sons, Yisrael and Menachem Mendel. About 20 years ago the older son Yisrael was removed from his position, the prevalent rumor was that his mother was responsible. The mother died and the Rebbe remarried 5 years ago and the elder son returned to the Chasidus. With the failing health of the Rebbe the Chasidus has split into 2 camps.

The warring between the 2 camps has spread and started a spate of "Shtreimel snatching".

Shtreimel vs. Shtreimel

The conflict among the two opposing camps in the Viznits Hasidic community in Bnei Brak doesn’t include stealing money or ideological arguments; instead, the Hasidic way of quarreling entails “swiping” shtreimels and bartering their return.

The shtreimel is a fur hat worn by many married haredi Jewish men belonging to the one of the various Hasidic sects on Saturdays and holidays. The hat is usually made out of a young fox’s fur, and a single hat requires 30 of them. A Hasidic man buys one or two expensive shterimels throughout his life for a price range of $2,000 to $4,000.

The shtreimel is worn without fastening, a significant factor in the latest street fights in the Viznits neighborhood. Those looking to humiliate a Hasid snatch his shtreimel, forcing him to return home with a lowered head sporting on his yarmulke.

In recent weeks, the brawls between the camps have intensified, with both sides snatching each other’s shtreimels. During the peacemaking, each camp returns the other’s goods stolen in the last strife.

The barters, one of which took place two weeks ago, also include returning torn shterimels that were intentionally spoiled and torn in the heat of battle in exchange for ones in mint condition.

In each fight, the Viznits Hassids try to snatch as many shterimels off their opponents’ heads, so as to have as many bargaining chips as possible ahead of the next barter.

I couldn't make this up if I tried.

Amir Peretz plans his return to head the Labor Party

Peretz to challenge Barak in primary

You couldn't make this up, this is so completely and utterly absurd. Here is a guy who was elected to lead the Labor party and was a total failure. It is hard to imagine someone failing worse. In any other democratic society he would be done for. Just look at what happened to Michael Dukakis after his failed Presidential bid, and his failure was nowhere close to Amir Peretz's failure. After his disastrous term as Defense Minister how can anyone take him seriously as a candidate for Prime Minister? How can anyone think of voting for him? The fact that he can even think of returning shows how warped politics is here in Israel.

Israel should reject the deal with Hezbullah

As much as I feel for the families this deal cannot be accepted. For probably the first and last time in my life I agree with Yossi Beilin that this deal needs to be rejected.

According to all the intelligence reports the 2 soldiers are dead. The fact that Israel would make a deal with Hezbullah with this fact unknown is in and of itself a reason to reject the deal. How can you make a deal when you don't even know what you are getting back? Given the fact that we are 99% that they are dead, paying the same price for bodies as live soldiers is a terrible precedent. Until now, organizations like Hezbulah and Hamas have understood that live soldiers were worth more then dead bodies and therefore acted accordingly. Now why should they bother keeping prisoners alive, the government will pay the same price in any case? Deals like this bring on the next round of kidnappings and give the enemy no incentive to keep prisoners alive.

We have had a lot of emotional please from the families. That is their right and that is what they need to do. However, leaders need to back away from the emotional pleas and evaluate the situation in a logical cold hearted manner. They are responsible for the well being of all the citizens. The fact is the head of the Mossad and the head of the GSS are against the deal because it is a terrible precedent. Emotion, no matter how justified, can't change that.

The Labor Party is a Joke

So says the headline of today's ישראל היום (a free daily newspaper given out in Israel).

The reason is really simple. Not only did the deal with Labor gain time (3 months until the primaries) for Olmert, he is planning to run in the Kadima primary.

PM: I'll run again despite Labor deal

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert embarrassed the Labor Party on Wednesday when he announced at the Knesset podium that he intends to run for reelection as Kadima chairman despite the deal reached overnight Tuesday in which Labor gave up its effort to initiate an early election.

Even if Olmert does not run, he has made no promise to relinquish the premiership to the victor. He could continue serving as prime minister even if Kadima elects a new leader, because there is nothing in the Kadima bylaws that would force him to step down.
...
Labor secretary-general Eitan Cabel, who negotiated the deal, did not insist on ruling out an Olmert reelection bid, mostly because he thought this was superfluous and because he did not want to embarrass the prime minister. But he ended up being embarrassed and outraged by Olmert's statement at the Knesset.

"I can't deal all day with the question of whether or not I am being lied to," Cabel said. "If Olmert runs, we will quit the coalition and I will submit a motion of no-confidence in the government."

The bottom line is that Labor got absolutely ZERO from this deal, except a black eye for again zigzagging.

Shas is now sitting pretty

Shas must have breathed a huge sigh of relief. They don't really want elections and now they can continue to extort money from Olmert in return for staying in the coalition. I guarantee you that at least once a week we will hear Shas threatening to leave the coalition over some issue. It is patently clear that Olmert will find a way to give Shas money and keep them in the coalition.

It is unclear how this will work out for Shas in the long run. If Olmert actually makes a deal with either the Palestinians (dividing Jerusalem) or Syria (gving back the Golan) it will be a disaster for Shas because their voters will not forgive them for allowing that to happen. On the other hand, if there is no real progress and Shas continues to extort money they will be in an excellent position for the next election.

Can politics in Israel sink any lower?

I haven't posted about Israeli politics in a while, here I go again.

It doesn't get any worse then this. Ehud Barak who a month ago stated that he doesn't see how Olmert can continue as PM, made a deal to allow just that.

Labor agreed late Tuesday night not to vote in favor of the bill which calls for the dissolution of the Knesset, whether it is brought to the floor on Wednesday, or any time in the coming weeks.
...
According to the agreement, the Kadima party promised to convene a committee on Wednesday which would begin the process of primaries for choosing a new chairperson. On Monday of next week, the Kadima faction will discuss the results, and 10 days later the Kadima council will convene to determine an exact date for primary elections, to be held before September 25. Should a run-off election be needed as well, that, too, will be held before September 25.

What this means is that Olmert survives until at least October the beginning of the next Knesset session. Let's not forget that Olmert may very well run in the Kadima primaries and win. Then what?

This is absolutely pathetic. The Winograd commission without saying so explicitly told Olmert to go and he ignored what they said. At that point Ehud Barak said that he would work towards replacing Olmert. So far he has done nothing but help Olmert survive. Then came all the corruption investigations culminating in Talansky's infamous testimony. Again Barak made a lot of noise and again is doing nothing.

Let's look at what is going on.
1. The so called "cease fire" has already started to fall apart
2. Gilad Shalit is no closer to coming home.
3. On the Northern front the deal with Hizbullah is also very controversial and may or may not happen.
4. Negotiations with Syria
5. Iran
...

All being done by a Prime Minister who has no moral authority, has a single digit approval rating and is spending a good part of his day fighting off the 5 corruption investigations.

The political system in Israel is absolutely bankrupt. More and more people are losing faith in the system. When all the politicians care about is keeping their seat and there is no real accountability people simply tune out and don't vote.

Looking back at what the leftists said before the disengagement

I was reading an old post and the comments from 2005 (before the disengagement) and was struck by some some of the things said by leftists and how wrong they turned out to be.

Doresh wrote:
Withdrawing from Gaza makes 100% sense. Israel originally at one time in the 70s offered it back to the Egyptions but they didnt want it. Staying there forments more and more hatred. Remember the Arabs living there think its "their land". They regard it as the one bit of land they have managed to keep a hold of. They are desperate to 'keep' it.

Thus pragmatically you have to understand how the other side sees things and figure out what CAN be done. Once Israel withdraws from Gaza it can effectively seal it off and spend its resources more effeciently. Then there will also be one less thing that enrages the Palastinians.

We see how well that worked. Lets see. We sealed Gaza off but they are shooting rockets over the fence. We are probably going to invade Gaza in the fext weeks and reconquer it.

Someone asked DovBear:
But I still haven't figured out how exactly is the IDF going to stop the mortar and rocket fire that is going to get worse as soon as the IDF leaves.
His answer:
I trust the IDF. I trust that leaving Gaza is the right thing to do. And I trust God to make up the difference.

I guess his trust was misplaced.

Here is another beauty from good old Dovie:

And in conclusion, may I propose the blorange prayer:

Elokeinu v'elokai avosaynu, please let this inevitable withdrawal proceed peacefully and please let it deliver a good outcome.

Som much for Dovie and his prayers, the first half was accepted but not the second.

Age discrimination in Kollels?

I have to say this would never have occurred to me. I would never have thought that there is a phenomenon of age discrimination in kollels. I thought it was only in the secular world that there is a culture of youth. It seems that the Charedi world has been affected as well.

Last week's Mishpacha magazine (in Hebrew) has a long article detailing the problem.

It seems that Avreichim over the age of 40 have a very hard time finding a kollel to learn in. Some of the reasons given are:
1. It is assumed that a young person in his 20's has more zeal for learning then someone who has been learning already for 20+ years.
2. Younger people are less busy and have more time to devote to learning. Someone who is 25 has a few little kids and not s many financial worries. Someone who is 45 probably has 8-10 kids that are older and therefore he is busy trying to marry them off and deal with their problems. He mostly probably is in finanial trouble as a result. As the old saying goes "little kids little problems big kids big problems".
3. The Roshei Kollel feel that they will have more influence on a younger person. They believe that they can have a major influence on the דרך הלימוד of someone who is in their early 20's. However someone in their 40's is already set in their ways.
4. The Roshei Kollel feel awkward about having someone in the kollel their age or older. They also feel that the person will probably not follow the sedarim in the kollel and will learn what they want.
5. Someone who is still just sitting and learing in kollel in their 40's is not going to become a Rosh Yeshiva, Rosh Kollel etc. The fact that they haven't moved up shows that they are not so successful.

These are all stereotypes but there is some truth in all of them. The article points out that the reasons listed above apply mostly to small kollels. Therefore it suggests that older Avreichim should start learning in a big kollel where these issues are not nearly as problematic.

Forner Bais Yaakov girl play football

Football Pro Keeps Her Faith on the Gridiron

Gable grew up Orthodox, with nine siblings, in Monsey, N.Y., and is a running back for the New York Nemesis. Six weeks into the 10-week season, the team is undefeated (5-0) and has a strong chance of making it to the National Women’s Football Association’s equivalent of the Super Bowl, to be held July 26.
...
The more daunting challenge for Gable is adhering to Jewish law in a league where all games are played Saturday, women wear pants and the goal is to carry a football on the Sabbath.

“Most Orthodox people would say it’s not in the spirit of Shabbat,” said Gable, who considers herself Modern Orthodox. “I respect that,” Gable said. “I thought about it. I believe rules should be followed strictly, but if I’m not breaking anything, then, I guess I’m allowing myself to be lenient.”

Gable travels to game sites Fridays, finds the hotel closest to the field and makes sure there’s a fence around the stadium (which acts as an eruv — a Sabbath barrier — and permits her to carry things, such as a football, within its boundaries). She then memorizes the route from the hotel to the field, because she can’t carry the map on the Sabbath, and walks as far as five miles to get to the game the next day.
...
Gable was a standout student at the Heredi Orthodox all-girls Bais Yaakov in Passaic, N.J., before graduating from Bruriah High School in Elizabeth, N.J., and attended Michlelet Mevaseret Yerushalayim in Israel during the 2001 intifada. When she returned to the United States, Gable attended SUNY Rockland Community College. In 2006 she graudated from Cornell, where, a year later, she earned a master’s degree in health administration. She now works as an analyst at Hewitt Associates, a health management consulting firm.

Traveling in America

I was recently traveling in the US (which is why I haven't posted in a while), and would like to relate some of my experiences.

I was in Palo Alto for Shabbos and had a very interesting Shabbos. There is an outreach kollel (http://www.jsn.info/) in Palo Alto as well as 1 Orthodox shul. It is very interesting to see the mix of people in the shul, you have the black hat kollel guys side by side with the students from Stanford, the single guys with long hair etc. It is amazing how well everyone gets along. In Israel many of us live in basically homogeneous communities and this is the complete opposite where you have a very heterogeneous community.

I am always surprised when I visit Northern California how few religious Jews live there. There are so many Jews in hi tech, you would think that more religious Jews would move to Silicon Valley to work there. For some reason it hasn't happened and there is only a very small Jewish community.

I was also in Kansas City. I was amazed to find out that in Kansas City there is a Glatt Kosher Subway. Kansas City has a relatively small Jewish community and therefore I am very surprised that they can support a restaurant like that.

The religion of America is sports. It is amazing how much sports there is on TV. In fact, it is the only thing that there is to watch. In my hotel I had ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPN News, and ESPN Classic.

Hamodia: The yeshivos are on the verge of collapse: 'Only a miracle can save us'

The article explains that the crisis comes mostly from the cuts in government funding. One of the biggest issues relates to the core curriculum. The government is refusing to fund any school that does not adhere to a core curriculum (e.g. English, math, science, etc.). The Charedi schools absolutely refuse. The Charedi schools also have a much longer school day then regular schools and again the government does not want to pay.

Basically the Charedim want to have their cake and eat it. On one hand, they want to have complete freedom to do whatever they want, including curriculum, hours, etc. and on the other hand they want the government to fully fund them. They should have seen this coming. I for one, am surprised at how long the government funded Charedi schools that teach no secular studies.

In every other country in the world the Charedi schools teach the core government curriculum in addition to whatever they want and no one complains and the students don't seem to be affected negatively.

The question now is how will the Charedi world react.

With new elections coming soon, the Charedi parties are going to try to get all this money back in return for joining the government. Depending on the election results this may or may not work.

The latest סגולה

Can anyone explain to me what the connection to 104 shekel is?

In any case this is not the only סגולה in yesterday's Yated Neeman. Here some more סגולה ads:




I think this is a very unfortunate and damaging phenomenon. It makes Judaism into magic and promotes a quick fix. You have a problem do this סגולה and your problem will be solved. That is not how it is supposed to work. You are supposed to be מפשפש במעשיו do teshuva, etc. not some quick fix.

Finally the press wakes up ...

and realizes that the main charge against Olmert is not bribery, that is just the icing on the cake. The main charge is money laundering and tax evasion.

Money laundering the key charge in Olmert case

Money laundering appears to be the key charge the police fraud squad is looking at in the corruption investigation against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, sources close to the investigation say.
...
"In the coming days we'll hear a lot of spins about Talansky's testimony and attempts by the various lawyers to discover cracks in it," a law-enforcement source told Haaretz.

"It is important to understand that these claims have almost no importance: Olmert admitted taking the cash, the money was never reported or documented. That in itself is enough to make an indictment stick."
...
Section 3b of the anti-money-laundering law is intended to make it easier for investigators to collect evidence to prove this offense: The clause does not relate to offenses for which the money was used.

Instead, it says a person has broken the law if he or she "takes action in terms of property, or provides false information with the intent that no report be made ... or of causing an incorrect report to be made."

This is what I have been saying all along. He has no defense. He admitted that he took the cash and he didn't report it, end of story. That in and of itself is a violation of the law.

Why Olmert's lawyers didn't cross examine Talansky

After all, this has caused tremendous damage to the PM to allow Talansky's testimony to go unrefuted. Olmert's attorneys could have cross examined Talansky yesterday. Their excuse that they needed more time to prepare is a joke, these are some of the best lawyers in Israel, I am sure that they could have managed in the timeframe given them

I believe that Olmert did this for a number of reasons:

1. Olmert is trying to buy time. By delaying Talansky's cross-examination for almost 2 months he thought he would buy that time. His line of defense is now, give me time to defend myself. This has also pushed out any indictment and in Israel's legalized society what the Attorney General and the courts say goes.
2. It allows them to easily negate Talansky's testimony. All you hear from Olmert's camp is "just wait until we cross examine him" and "we have an answer for everything he said". They can say that now because they don't have to back it up for another month and a half. I am sure that his lawyers on cross examination will be able to refute some minor points and score some points. However, I am quite sure that the overall thrust of Talansky's testimony will not be impugned. Therefore, if they had cross examined him yesterday, they would have no defense. Everyone would realize that the Emperorer has no clothes. By delaying for a month and a half they hope that things die down and people forget what exactly Talansky said.

Luckily, it seems that Olmert miscalculated. The fallout from Talansky's testimony has been overwhelming and will most likely not allow Olmert the time he so desperately wants.