There is always interesting things happening in the various political parties come election time, but that is especially true in regards to the more colorful parties, like Koach L'Hashpia, Rav Amnon Yitzchak's party.

Besides for some of his recent statements of what they plan to do, such as legislate bread to be priced at 1 shekel, and raising the speed limit to 140 kmph, even greater is his most recent admission - he himself is not going to vote for his own party.

Obviously he is not running for a Knesset seat, but will be directing the party both spiritually and in the decision making, much the way Rav Ovadiah Yosef leads SHAS. So, not voting for the party is not directly not voting for himself, but it still seems pretty strange.

Why won't Rav Amnon Yitzchak be voting for the party he founded and leads? Because Rav Amnon Yitzchak is very extreme in his vews regarding the State of Israel. He is very close to Satmar in his views. He believes the secular State is passul and one cannot vote in the elections.

So, what about running a political party and participating in the democratic process of governance?

He has no problem with that, because while he himself does not vote, he does not have a problem asking people who do vote to vote for him, and he has no problem saying he wants to help, via the government,  those people who need his help.

As a matter of fact, he explains that the reason Rav Shteinman supported his opening this new party is because he has a public, outside of the haredi public, that wants to vote for him. It is a mitzvah to get those votes - better they should vote for Rav Yitzchak's party than for who they would have voted for. This approach fits in very well with his approach on voting - he himself won't but he is there to help those who will that at least they should do it right and get helped.

(sources: Kikar and Srugim)

Yes! A way has finally been found to keep women at home and off the streets! No longer will women need, or be allowed, to walk outside! Finally our streets will be all-male, free of women and the pitfalls they bring.

According to NRG Yahadut, booklets were recently passed out to women, in Tel Aviv of all places, for the Haredi woman, called "The Guide to Kosher Parnassa", explaining and giving practical solutions of how to live successfully without stepping foot out on the city streets.

The explanation for this ridiculousness comes in the next paragraph when it is explained that the guide was published by an organization called "b'Nafsheinu" that is connected to the kat ha'shalim - the veiled-women cult people.

Here is my free-translation recap of the article:

According to the report,  the booklet has two sections - the first being divrei torah about the greatness of women who stay home, and the second being a practical guide how to overcome the seduction of going outside.

According to the booklet, Hashem wants women to hide herself, not just by dressing modestly but to actually  hide themselves as much as possible.
Before a woman goes outside, she should be doubly sure that she actually needs to, whether it is for going to the supermarket, or taking the kids out for a walk. It says that it is always best for a woman to sit at home and never go outside. Every time a woman goes out of her house, she puts herself at risk - perhaps at that moment she is missing her chance to fulfill her mission in this world, and therefore best not to go out at all.

Going out is dangerous, and much more so when it is done regularly on a daily routine. And going out with jewelry is much worse. Working in a workplace with men, even "kosher men", causing great difficulties, even if not wearing jewelry, especially today when employers often demand their employees come to work looking respectful, so that adds on to all the other problems.

Advice given includes that if a woman should need to go out, she should find alternatives - make ones purchases via the telephone, send children to their schools via paid carpools, one can hear shiurim from home, pay bills by credit card, and these should be done even if it will incur greater expense. Similar to the Lulav and Esrog that cost a lot of money, as well as other mitzvis that we know how to invest in hiddur.

The guide also says that if a woman has to go out, it is prohibited to wear jewelry, not to use perfume or makeup, and obviously not to wear any skin-colored clothing. Avoid any deodorants or things that cause a nice smell, no soap or shampoo that smell nice.

I don't know where they get this stuff from, but more power to 'em! The more they stay indoors, the less we will have to see them!

Banking reforms are the next thing we need to deal with, after the reforms we implemented in the cellular and television markets.The weak have no power to argue, to scream and to influence. The strong are the ones who get the cheapest prices..... The banks profit a billion shekels every quarter. This money comes from the interest that the public pays. If they profit 100 million, would that not be enough? This money comes from you, and from your parents, and not justly. We see now in the banks that if someone has money he gets interest rates of 1.5%, and if he does not he gets rates of 6% - 7%...
We can do this differently. In the past 60 years no new bank has opened up in Israel, no competition has been created, this is very troubling and is not understandable to me. By bringing in more banks, we will pay lower interest rates and lower commissions. The same is true with the food industry and with every aspect of our lives..

 -- Minister of Communications and Minister of Social Services Moshe Kachlon

If Kachlon is eyeing the banking industry for the next sages of reforms, does that mean he is looking for either a ministerial appointment or some other form of being appointed to implement reforms? Perhaps this means his time-out from politics does not mean a time-out from working for the public.

I am assuming this is some sort of a joke but I don't know...

Interesting story being reported on Kikar.

A hassidic fellow, described as being from a hassidut that normally does not visit the kotel, was at the kotel and found an envelope full of money. The envelope contained checks totaling 1.9 billion dollars! That's $1,919,000,000!

The fellow found the envelope containing 507 checks, originating form many different countries. He immediately left the Kotel with the envelope. the next day he went to a lawyer to figure out what to do. They discerned that it most likely belonged to a Christian, and somehow they determined that the checks were somehow obtained via the Nigerian banker scam..

They brought the checks to the police, who opened a file under the fraud division, and later transferred it to the lost and found division.

1. Rabbi Pruzansky on dealing with scandal

2. new British Chief Rabbi needs to bring passion and Zionism to Anglo jewry

3. Baayot b'Shefa - tracking the "shefa" problems of RBS. Maybe City Hall will take notice and finally do something about it!

4. after changes upon changes, we are more or less the same

5. going to the chuppah! - Mazel tov!

6. the path to sayeret

7. bring Springsteen to Israel!

In the latest update sent out by the Rabbanut, in addition to the regular notices about mislabels, fraudulent labels, and the like, the Rabbanut posted about a policy clarification in regards to bishul yisrael.

Bushul Yisrael is a halacha by which we are obligated to eat only from food cooked by a Jew, and not from food cooked by a gentile. With many restaurants and industrial kitchens, and even private homes, employing non-Jews that could be a problem. To deal with it we have an argument between the Beit Yosef and the Rama as far as what is considered cooked by a Jew and what is considered cooked by a non-Jew.

The question is really how much a Jewish person has to be involved with the pot of cooking food in order to turn it into Jewish-cooked food. According to the Beit Yosef a Jew has to actually cook the food. if the non-Jew plays anything more than a minor role in the cooking process, it would be a problem. According to the Rama, if a Jew placed the food on a fire, or if he did something minor like briefly stirring the food in the pot, that would be enough to consider the pot as having been cooked by a Jew.

This raises a difference in custom between Sephardim and Ashkenazim. It is common in kitchens that a non-Jew will do much of the cooking, but a Jew will light the fire on the stove, or place the pot on the fire. According to Sephardim that generally is not acceptable as being Jewish-cooked food, while according to Ashkenazim it is good enough.

The Rabbanut announced that any establishment that has only a regular Rabbanut hechsher, the food will be cooked according to the directives of the local rabbi, whereas any food establishment that bears the hechsher of the Rabbanut Mehadrin will be obligated to prepare the food according to the Sephardic custom of bishul yisrael.


This directive of the Rabbanut raises the question how any Sephardi person can eat regular Rabbanut (non-mehadrin). Of course they could check out any specific restaurant or caterer that bears a regular Rabbanut and see if non-Jews are employed in the kitchen, and then avoid the places they find to employ non-Jews in the kitchen in the cooking process, and eat heartily in any restaurant that only employs Jews, even with a regular Rabbanut. If they do not do their own due diligence though, and only rely on the certificate, it is a big problem for Sephardim to eat in Rabbanut establishments.

It actually, to me, seems to be a contradiction in the Rabbanut's purpose. if the purpose of the Rabbanut hechsher is to bring kosher food to the masses, even if they were to rely on many other leniencies in other aspects of food preparation , bishul yisrael is one that I think they should be strict about. Included in the masses who eat Rabbanut hechsher are many Sephardim, many of whom are traditional, and by not using the psak of the Beit Yosef in this issue of bishul yisrael, we are causing them to eat problematic food.

This is not a matter of choosing a leniency, but an issue of actual kashrut of the food for many of the people who eat it. No matter what other leniency the Rabbanut uses in order to bring kosher food to the general public, I think bishul yisrael is one policy they should be stricter about.

After an event in Acco celebrating settlement in the Galil, PM Netanyahu decided he was hungry and stoped at a falafel shop to grab something to eat, along with Minister Silvan Shalom. Netanyahu ordered his falafel with a lot of charif (but he rejected the tehina), and after an enjoyable meal he paid for both his and Shalom's.

This could have been staged, or maybe he just was really hungry for a quick bite. President Obama famously has dropped into hamburger joints, despite he and Michelle regularly talking about eating healthy. Some say these are staged photo-ops to give the appearance of being amami, just one of the people. Either way, now I am in the mood for falafel!

Shas took [Sephardic haredim] from a public that works and serves in the IDF, and made it extreme ‘Sephardic Lithuanians’. I tell these people to look at photos of their grandfathers and fathers. Weren’t they Zionists? Didn’t they work and go to the army?

  -- Rabbi Chaim Amsalem

Yair Lapid, rightfully or wrongfully, has gotten the reputation of being anti-haredi. Rabbi Dov Lipman, running on the Yesh Atid ticket, has gotten the name around Bet Shemesh for having become anti-haredi as well, an accusation Lipman strongly denies. Lipman says over and over again he has always been careful to distinguish between the extremists, who he has fought against, and regular haredim.

The other day Lipman was on Radio Kol b'Rama talking about his positions and whether he is anti-haredi or not, and a haredi councilperson, Rav Dovid Weiner, was brought on, and they get into a screaming match. Makes for interesting listening. Listen and see if you are convinced if you think he is or is not anti-haredi. I personally do not think he is, despite my not liking every decision or political move he has made.

As a side note, something does not make much sense. Haredim are quick to tag  both Lapid and Lipman as being anti-haredi. Yet, Chadash, one of the haredi newspapers in Bet Shemesh (and the larger of the two), claimed last week that Lipman was slated to be higher up on the lsit, and with a couple of people even higher up dropping out he was moving into a very realistic spot. When certain people (unnamed of course) spoke to Lapid and told him who Lipman really is, Lapid pushed him back further into a deeper unrealistic spot. I don't know if that is true or not, but it does not make much sense - if the accusation in the haredi community against both of them is that they are anti-haredi, Lapid should have liked what he heard and moved Lipman up rather than down, as a like-minded person...

In a rally in Elad, Housing Minister Ariel Attias commented on the idea floated by Bayit Yehudi that they might demand the Ministry of Housing portfolio in a future government, to get it out of the hands of SHAS who were only concerned with building for their own sector.

Attias's response is that Bayit Yehudi is a sectoral party, while they helped everyone who is a "have-not", they strengthened the weak. He says we are not sectoral, but the entire nation is our sector, and they only want their little sector to control it..

I happen to like Ariel Attias and think he did good work in a ministry that was stagnant for a long time, but it is disingenuous of him to make the claim that SHAS is not a sectoral party.

this is pretty cool to sing a sogn in sign language. I wonder if a female sings in sign, is it considered kol isha?

1. The similarity and difference between YU and Satmar abuse scandals

2. The shanda of Chrismukka

3. Rabbis should support gun control

4. Newton

5. Worst Hasbara of the Day

6. A note to a few high school friends

7. Sandy and Sandy Hook

8. levaya launches leadership lament

9. AG recommends not to ban Zoabi from running

10. Renovating for the dawn

11. Post-Hanukkah post

A couple of weeks ago womens rights organizations got together and petitioned the election board of the Knesset to have the haredi political parties disqualified due to their not having any female candidates listed on the party lists for Knesset. At the time, the election board said the issue would only be dealt with after the deadline for submitting party lists will have passed.

The deadline passed already over a week ago, and tomorrow the election board is set to discuss all the requests for disqualifications.

A few days ago, the organizations officially submitted their petition to have the haredi parties disqualified. They base it on the fact that their are no female representatives, but also because the regulations of both SHAS and UTJ parties state that women will not be allowed to run as representatives of their parties for Knesset. Due to clear discrimination against women, they should be disqualified according to the petition.
(source: Kikar)

A member of the groups that filed the petition wrote an op-ed on the Times of Israel explaining their action. Among all the discussion of lawlessness, equality and all that, I find the following paragraph, the concluding paragraph, the most interesting:

Let’s hope that the members of the committee, all party representatives, will understand that it will be better for all of us if we start at the very beginning by rooting out such bias from the core of our political system. I have no doubt that Haredi women, who tend to receive a far wider and better education than their counterparts in the sex-segregated Haredi school system, will do at least as well as the men who have been shutting them out.  Their very presence in the Knesset will be a welcome change and a bright sign for the future.

Again, I do not expect the election board to disqualify the haredi parties over this, but I guess we'll see what happens tomorrow..

In the meantime, the haredi parties have responded to defend themselves against the petition. In their joint response they say that:
"the haredi parties operate, as per the halacha, with separation between men and women, for reasons of tzniyut. Men have one role, and the women have a different role. The division of labor has nothing to do with the removal of women, discrimination against women, or any claim that women are valued any less than men. In a democratic country a party that wants to operate according to halacha cannot run for Knesset? That itself makes the petition itself anti-democracy in the clearest way!
They add that they do not oppose women being chosen for the Knesset, just not via their parties. "Being that these responding parties operate according to the 4 cubits of halacha, their representatives for the Knesset can only be men. If this approach is not acceptable to some people, they do not have to vote for these parties."
They even added that "haredi women would not vote for them specifically if women were on the party lists, because it is against halacha. In order to satisfy the desires of the petitioners, is it right to take away the rights of these women from voting for haredi parties that act according to halacha?"
(source: Ynet)

I don't know which halacha prevents women from being on the Knesset lists of these (or any) parties. The choices are:

1. kol kvoda bat melech pnima: If it is the one that talks about women being in the home or the glory of a woman is being inside or internal (kol kvoda bat melech pnima), then women should not be allowed to leave their house for work - whether it is teaching or computer programming or architecture or anything else. The Knesset should be no different. If women are allowed out to work, they can also work in the Knesset.
2. problem of having a party mixed with men and women.. meetings, talking between the sexes, meetings, yichud, etc: If it is issues of yichud or tzniyus, those are all solvable. They cannot be any worse than the situation created of haredi male MKs sitting in meetings with secular women from other parties, sitting and talking to them, talking to female reporters, etc. If the problem is a mixed list of men and women, perhaps the solution would be to have only women listed on the party list and let the men go back to yeshiva, though then it would be a problem of male discrimination.

A Guest Post by Dr. Harold Goldmeier, Ramat Beit Shemesh Israel


As an oleh chadash, a new immigrant to Israel, I am not an expert on anything Israeli, but I already have an opinion on everything. I am particularly at a loss trying to moor to any one party standing for election to the Knesset, the first time I have the honor to vote here. It seems each party platform addresses foreign affairs and one or two other narrow issues of personal pleasure.
As an invitee to the Jerusalem Post’s Diplomatic Conference in Herzliyah on December 12th, I came away empty handed after speeches by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni among others. They are two of the three candidates for leadership positions in the next government despite Mr. Lieberman’s subsequent resignation as Foreign Minister.
Neither one expresses a vision for Israel in the next decade at a time when voters crave inspiration. We live on the sizzle not the steak. Israeli politicians don’t seem to get it.
Listening to and reading about their reasons for running for the Knesset, I am struck by how all of them focus on the past to set the pace for the present offering too little vision of Israel’s future. They are trapped in the miasma of the Palestinian conflict, and the tension and trappings associated with international relations.  Voters want to hear something about their dreams for the future of the nation. They are not energizing young people or anyone else for that matter.
The Conference was my first live exposure to Mr. Lieberman. He is not the mulligrub, bandersnatch I picture him to be from press reports and criticisms from other Foreign Ministers. Lieberman is polished, a natty dresser, and portrays a calm, not an angry demeanor while talking about war and civil control.
Lieberman seems to care deeply about the fate of Israel, but, as psychoanalyst Alfred Adler’s observed, when your only tool is a hammer, every problem becomes a nail. Lieberman’s only tool to protect Israel seems to be a sledgehammer. Lieberman envisions little chance for peace negotiations succeeding – ever.  His is a future where Palestinian aspirations are ”contained”. Israel can only keep them from getting too violent, while we try to improve their standard of living. He learned that style of governing in the Soviet Union, and look how well it works for them. The states de-unionized, and throughout the nation remaining nationalist aspirants are in revolt.
Mrs. Livini communicates better than Lieberman. She has a better command of the English language, and a rapport with an audience. She approaches the brink of a vision talking about her parents’ dreams for an Israel in which their little girl can celebrate life in peaceful coexistence with Israel’s neighbors.
Livni wants all Israeli children to prosper in a Jewish democratic state free from clashes of religions, political delegitimization, and without constant world condemnation of our people. Livni delivers her message with hubris sans arrogance, body language that adds exclamation to her words, and a constant smile that lightens up the stage.  I am under the impression from what is written and spoken about her that Livni’s time passed in politics. I doubt that is true after witnessing her energetic presentation at the Post’s Conference, but she must take her message to the next level, and talk about what life will be like in that Jewish democratic state.
I was living in Illinois when Mr. Obama announced his candidacy for President.  The U. S. was mired in three wars—Iraq, Afghanistan, and a worldwide war on terrorists.  The American people were suffering financially, emotionally, and the fabric of society seemed to be unraveling.  High watermarks were being reached everyday in the number of bankruptcies, foreclosures, unemployment, suicides and mental health breakdowns, school dropouts, and gang violence.
Things got worse into the election debate with the hardening of political viewpoints, and personal attacks.  Then the message of “Change” from the Obama camp began to sneak out. The people listened, and were inspired. Neither the details of his plan nor the value one ascribes to the concept are important here. Hope, vision, a sense of a better future, a message of good and possibilities, motivated and lifted the nation. A people’s campaign swept the country, young people in particular, and the message became the medium.
Author Deborah White succinctly remembers Obama’s message of change, and if Israel’s candidates can take a leaf from that playbook voters here might respond.
We need to hear about “guiding principles” for education, environmental policy, job creation, living wages, affordable housing availability, and better delivery of health and medical care. Israelis want to hear about an equitable tax policy for all groups. An economic policy needs to be presented that encourages small and mid-cap businesses, replaces regulations that keep the monopolistic grip on trade and commerce – a policy that shows how prosperity will touch all citizens.
Most of all, we deserve to hear from politicians how they will ensure a decent standard of living for the working middle class. Wages here do not match spending power. The cost of consumer goods approach double that in other advanced countries, while earning power is much less.  IDF veterans need a more seamless transition from active duty to civilian life. They need fewer interruptions to their careers and education post active military duty.
We need to hear about more equitable enforcement and expansion of our civil rights.  This must be complemented by a change in government policy regarding the police and their interactions with the civilian population. The people do not seem to hold them as much in high regard as they fear the police. “To serve and protect” is not the motto people who live in Israel ascribe to their police. Officer Friendly needs to make aliyah.
Finally, our heavy-handed diplomatic policy is not working for Israel. Young people want to travel freely and safely. They want to be able to wear a kippa in Copenhagen, Berlin, and Paris without fear of attack. Israelis want to attend universities overseas and international conferences where we are not the objects of scorn and ridicule and bias. Yet, we heard nothing new at the Diplomatic Conference that might inspire and promise voters a new day.  That must be next year’s conference agenda.

The economy is very fragile. Thankfully we have not had a crisis like that experienced around the world, such as in Europe and in the USA, yet still things are fragile. Economists are now forecasting slightly higher than expected economic growth in 2013, yet recently we have seen unemployment start to move up again after a period of reasonable stability and it is expected to increase dramatically in 2013. There is talk about a series of budget cuts coming in 2013, along with an increase in taxes. Cost of living has been expensive, and prices are regularly being increased.

Globes is reporting, based on a report in Yediot Achronot, that our public servants are all getting raises in 2013.

As good or as bad as the situation gets in Israel our taxes get raised and prices are increased, people have to worry about their jobs, yet Public Service seems to continue be the most secure, and lucrative, job industry in the country..

PM Benjamin Netanyahu will receive an increase of 640 NIS per month, bringing his monthly salary to 46,644 NIS per month.

The prime minister does not even make the top public salary in the country. As a matter of fact, he is only third on the list. The top two are the President, Shimon Peres, and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Asher Gronis. Shimon Peres will be receiving a salary increase of 1500 NIS, bringing his salary to 53,612 NIS per month. Asher Gronis will also be receiving an increase of 1500 NIS bringing his salary to 52, 015 NIS per month.

Every MK will receive a salary increase of 1,119 NIS per month, bring their salaries to 38,404 NIS per month.

Maybe I should plan to run for Knesset in the next elections. Too bad it's already too late for these elections.

The Kinneret Is On It's Way To A 20 year Record High

  -- Channel Two News

yet somehow the water prices just keep going up. They were initially raised when there was a water shortage - it was both an issue of supply and demand and a method of encouraging people to use their water more efficiently and to waste less. Somehow, prices always go up out of need but never go down even after that need has been filled.

two different ways of memorializing...

Rabbi Shaul Praver sings Hebrew prayer at Newtown vigil


Chabad puts tefillin on Lenny Pozner at the shiva house...

the video was posted a little bit late, but at least this holiday they celebrated on the holiday itself and not two weeks before...

I don't think this guy...



is dancing in the same nightclub as the one described in this Haaretz article. The difference is that this guy is going to a mixed club and dancing with women around, and maybe with women, while the haredi women described in the article who go out clubbing at night, drinking and dancing, are doing so in an all-female club...

either way, it is a strange phenomenon...

Rav Baruch Efrati was asked, on the Kipa website's Ask the Rabbi section, if we have an obligation today to build the Beit HaMikdash or if we should wait for it to descend from heaven already built. And, if we have an obligation to build it, why are we not doing so?

Rav Efrati starts off with the basics, saying that the issue of us building the Temple is dependant upon the argument between Rambam and Rashi, with most poskim deciding like the Rambam that we have an obligation to build the Temple.

Rav Efrati then moves on to explain why we don't bother trying to fulfill our obligation. He says that if we would build it, it would immediately be ruined and destroyed, due to identity problems of our nation. The Temple, he says, expresses God's presence upon us, and for us to merit that we must strengthen our own Torah-based identity.. when the nation will be a fortress, with the majority being faith-based, then we will be able to build the Mikdash properly.

if we were to build it today, Rav Efrati says, confused women would want to be the kohanim (kohanot), animal rights activists would petition the courts against the korbanot, and , the main thing being, most of the nation would see it as a burden rather than as the source of the Divine resting place.

Before we build the Temple we must build the national consciousness, to strengthen and to deepen the nation's faith...

I am not quite sure what to say... on the one hand, it is the crazy women and animal-rights activists who are at fault and are the excuse, or reason, for us not doing what we need to do. On the other hand, the building of the Temple is a process, and the preparation of the nation for the spirituality necessary is like laying the foundation for the actual building, and would perhaps even be considered part of the construction process.. It seems like a bit of a cop-out to me. When we have an obligation to perform a commandment, such as shaking the lulav or praying or giving charity and helping others in need, since when can we use the excuse that we are not yet ready for it, there is what to prepare first, etc. If we have an obligation to do something, we must do it.

MK Carmel Shama-HaKohen (Likud) has come under fire for his approach to Shabbos.

Shama-HaKohen was in Budapest this past weekend. On Friday he was invited to a ceremony in which he was to be the guest of honor of the Jewish community, and they asked him to light the Hannukah candles. unfortunately, the lighting was to take place after Shabbos would have already begun. MK Shama-HaKohen turned down the invitation.

MK Carmel Shama-HaKohen then posted to his Facebook account saying that he had turned down the invitation despite not keeping all the mitzvos because he has red lines that include lighting fires on Shabbos and eating pork.

That itself is a tremendous kiddush Hashem, especially when coming from a Jew who is self-declared as not religious. Ashrecha, fortunate for you, Carmel Shama-HaKohen.

The ruckus started when he then posted about this, while it was Shabbos, on his Facebook page. One aspect of the ruckus was whether he made the right decision or not to refuse the invitation. When called out on that, he explained that so he was raised, and then explained further that it is important to have respect for one's parents and for the family traditions.

The second aspect of the ruckus was his posting on Facebook on Shabbos while talking about how he refused the invitation because he would have had to perform the lighting on Shabbos. When he was called out on that, he responded that he said straight out that he does not keep the mitzvot, but he "tries".

People and life are not black and white. People do contradictory things all the time. Sometimes one thing is important while the other is perceived as less so, even if the two contradict each other. Sometimes people are strong in one situation and fail, or are weak, in another. Perhaps the two decisions, to not light but to post, were contradictory, but does that mean he should not get credit for his good decision?

It is not for us to judge any specific person in what he does - that is between him (or her) and God. Does it matter to anyone if I accuse him of not keeping Shabbos, or if I praise him for keeping Shabbos? What about if I call anyone else out on their actions, or if someone calls me out on mine. A person only has to answer to God, not to anyone else. On this world each person must do what he perceives as right and good to the best of his ability, and the rest of us should not be judging. As long as the person is not harming others, as long as he is not demanding of others what he himself does not demand of himself, it is not for me to judge if he is shomer shabbos or not or partially.

She should have gone into surgery yesterday evening, but they keep bringing in other people with more urgent problems. In the meantime they are giving the child pain-killers.
That is how it works, just like by the Carmel fire disaster. Only in the end did they bring in the supertanker. Also with the doctors strike - until they were choked the strike did not come to an end. It is just a shame that when Bibi broke his foot he received care for it very quickly.

  -- Lee Spektor, a mother of a child in a hospital waiting for surgery abotu hwo the nurse's strike, now on its 15th day, will only end when the government will be pushed into a corner

General Benny Gantz was overseeing an exercise of the Paratroopers when a soldier got injured from shrapnel. The Chief of Staff of the IDF evacuated the soldier with his own helicopter - h ehad already left 15 minutes prior to the injury but when he received the report of the incident he turned his helicopter around to help with the evacuation..