Yehuda Lave, Spiritual Advisor and Counselor | | | | Yehuda Lave is an author, journalist, psychologist, rabbi, spiritual teacher, and coach, with degrees in business, psychology and Jewish Law. He works with people from all walks of life and helps them in their search for greater happiness, meaning, business advice on saving money, and spiritual engagement. Now also a Blogger on the Times of Israel. Look for my column Love Yehuda Lave | | WE CAN GET OUR TOURISTS BACK TO ISRAEL-EUROPE IS DOING IT AND SO CAN WE WE CAN GET OUR TOURISTS BACK TO ISRAEL-EUROPE IS DOING IT AND SO CAN WE All's well that ends well, so that I can share this information with you so that the country can get back on its feet very quickly. It is possible to travel to Europe and Israel can allow travel as well to save the country. We are bereft from tourists and half of the country will soon be out of work. In addition, Israel has a lot of second home Jews that own or rent property that can't come. The conventional wisdom is that it only takes 21 days to make a new habit. When you go on for several months, the new habit of not coming to Israel becomes the new normal and it will take a long time to return to the pre Virus times. I didn't travel myself, but my wife left on Thursday morning to visit her parents in the Czech republic. She has an EU passport and I don't, being from America, so she can travel to Europe which at this point, has not allowed Tourists from some high-risk countries, the same way we are not allowing any tourists to come to Israel. Israel is a high-risk country so only citizens with an EU passport are allowed. How do you ask, do they protect themselves? On landing, the passenger can say they are leaving the country immediately. This is based on a simple affidavit. This would not work for Israel, because unlike Vienna, Austria which is a hub for the EU, Israel is the final destination for the passengers flying here. The second option, which somehow we are not smart enough to do here, is that there is a medical center IN THE AIRPORT. You make an appointment based on your flight time arrival, and for $200 (while it is expensive, it would certainly pay for itself-maybe even make a profit for the country) they do the test. If you come in the morning they give you the result the same day while you wait. If you come in the afternoon, it takes until the next morning. This obviously is just based on staff, and our medical center could give results within three hours if we staffed it. Or if it is not possible, there could be a hotel set up for one night. The idea is to avoid the 14-day isolation treatment. No one in their right mind is going to fly here for a vacation and then sit in isolation for 14 days first. We must set up a medical center here and get our healthy tourists back. If they are sick we will isolate them. No one who thinks he or she is sick would fly here on purpose. This procedure works for the ones that didn't know or got sick on the way. There is nothing special about Europe, if they did it there, we can do it here. As long as we were at it, I will tell you a little about the uncertainty we faced on her trip on Thursday. First, she had to get to the airport from Jerusalem. Our new 15 billion dollar train is running, but for some goofy reason, it doesn't stop at the airport on its way to Tel Aviv, it blows right past it. We realize that there are not many passengers, but what would it take to stop on the way? If you are coming from Tel Aviv there is a train, so if you want to go to the Airport by train, first you have to go to Tel Aviv, change trains and come back. About a two-hour process for a 20-minute trip. Now of course for about three years we have had a 24 direct bus to the airport from Jerusalem. Since the virus no more. Again, since there are no passengers no direct bus is running. But Barach Hashem we found a bus with only one transfer from the Central bus station that took her to the airport. There were only 10 passengers on the bus but she made it on time to a nearly empty airport. There were only three flights scheduled. Her flight to Vienna on Ryanair had 14 passengers on a 200 seat plane. But the planes are flying. The airlines claim they have put in new ventilation systems. The next problem for tourists is that temporary medical insurance has to cover them if they get sick. The Ryanair flight had an option for medical insurance for $30, so we took it. We have to make sure our tourists can buy medical insurance as well. This is the report on the trip there. On her hoped rested return, I will tell you what it is like to return to Israel, as I don't know what will happen yet. Will the isolation be over on August 1 or before, only time will tell. The Main Principal The principal at King David High School, Rabbi Epstein was speaking to his vocal parent body at a meeting that they requested. Rabbi Epstein assured them that he was always happy to hear from them about any problems they may have. He told them, "You can call me day or night, at this number . . ." Suddenly there was a cry from the Assistant Principal. "Hey," he exclaimed, "that's MY number!" | | California Bans Singing in Churches and Synagogues Fri Jul 3, 2020 by Daniel Greenfield But it's still okay to gather in huge groups and scream obscenities at America, the police, and anyone whose life doesn't matter. Updated COVID-19 guidelines issued Wednesday by the state Department of Public Health require churches and other houses of worship to "discontinue singing and chanting activities." *Places of worship must, therefore, discontinue singing and chanting activities and limit indoor attendance to 25% of building capacity or a maximum of 100 attendees, whichever is lower. Local Health Officers are advised to consider appropriate limitations on outdoor attendance capacities, factoring their jurisdiction's key COVID19 health indicators Are there any guidelines for capacity at protests? Okay, great. But there are guidelines for staying away from July 4th celebrations. "Traditionally, Fourth of July is a time of gathering to celebrate the freedoms this country offers us... "Any public or private events this weekend that includes people who do not live together in the same household should not happen. This includes family get-together... "This Independence Day, let's show our patriotism by protecting one another. Let's stay apart from those who don't live with us, and when we're out, protect one another by wearing a face covering, physically distancing, and washing our hands frequently." And burning, rioting and looting. It remains to be seen if, or how, the state or counties are expected to enforce the ban on singing in houses of worship. Churches were among the most aggressive institutions in pushing back on Newsom's original stay-at-home order in mid-March. Several sued the governor to overturn the order, saying it violated their First Amendment rights, although none were successful in court. As they should. Democrat politicians blatantly showed their bias by keeping houses of worship closed while endorsing race riots. | | Can the ADL 'stop the hate' by embracing Al Sharpton? by JONATHAN S. TOBIN Anti-Semitism monitoring group justifies joining forces with a race baiter and discards its core mission in favor of a partisan swindle targeting Facebook. Is there any red line that the Anti-Defamation League won't cross in order to pursue its current agenda that prioritizes partisan politics over combating anti-Semitism? In the five years since Jonathan Greenblatt succeeded longtime ADL leader Abe Foxman at the helm of the anti-Semitism monitor, the answer to that question has always been clear. But by openly allying itself with Al Sharpton—the man who helped incite the Crown Heights riots in the summer of 1991—the ADL has not just abandoned its core mission in favor of partisan politics, but has utterly disgraced itself in a manner that ought to shame its staff and donors. Greenblatt, a veteran of the last two Democratic administrations, moved the group away from its nonpartisan stance into one in which it has become a faithful auxiliary of the Democratic Party. That has been made painfully obvious repeatedly as Greenblatt has taken openly partisan stances on issues like Supreme Court nominations and consistent attempts to link President Donald Trump to anti-Semitism. But while the group's championing of the "Stop the Hate" campaign, which aims to pressure Facebook to begin censoring content, sounds like it is reverting to its job of bearing witness against anti-Semitism, that's not true. The #stophateforprofit campaign claims that its goal is to mobilize the country to force Facebook to cease allowing its platform to be used to promote hate. That sounds laudable. It is represented by its principle advocates, such as Greenblatt and actor Sacha Baron Cohen, as merely a request that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg stop serving as an enabler of neo-Nazis. And if it were that simple, who would oppose it? In practice, that means setting up a system to censor political ads subjectively so as to treat those from conservatives as inherently hateful or untrue while giving a pass to the left. Under any circumstances, that would be questionable. But in the context of a presidential election being contested in an environment in which many, if not most, Americans get their news from their social-media feeds, pushing Facebook to censor or tag ads and posts in this manner is an outrageous form of political cheating. As I've previously noted, the ability of Internet giants like Facebook, Twitter and Google to use their enormous power to control the information superhighway is a clear and present danger to democracy. While Trump's critics treat his bluster and coarse language as evidence of incipient authoritarianism, it is the potential for social-media giants to tilt the scales for or against certain politicians and ideas that constitutes the real possibility of establishing authoritarian rule. Rev. Al Sharpton outside of the New York City Police Department Headquarters in 1999. Credit: Robert Swanson via Wikimedia Commons. Google's attempts to deny the use of its ad revenue to conservative websites are deeply problematic, as is the decision of Twitter to dabble in censorship. But Facebook, with its billions of users, is in a unique position to ensure that its platform, which is so successful because it is so ubiquitous, to mute or silence views its left-wing staff doesn't like. While Democrats have mythologized the activities of Russian bots on Facebook into an excuse for Hillary Clinton's defeat in 2016, the point of this campaign is to weaponize the same forum to aid former Vice President Joe Biden. Though his motives have more to do with profit than principle, Zuckerberg has deserved some credit for resisting this pressure. But last week, it took the first step down the slippery slope towards censorship by agreeing to label posts from politicians that it deems an effort to "incite violence" or to "suppress voting." In a political environment in which liberal journalists are treating any call to enforce the rule of law against rioters as inciting violence, Facebook's adoption of such vague language is ominous. The same is true with talk of voter suppression, which is the way some on the left define any attempt to ensure the integrity of elections. But the interesting thing about ADL's decision to partner with Sharpton is that it illustrates how such partisan goals have now superseded its task of monitoring Jew-hatred. Greenblatt's predecessor Foxman was a child survivor of the Holocaust, and he took the job of granting absolution to those who were guilty of anti-Semitism in the past seriously. Those who would seek his blessing actually had to repent of their hate and behave in a manner that wouldn't embarrass their sponsor. Greenblatt, however, hasn't required Sharpton to fully confess his role as a race-baiting inciter of anti-Semitic violence. Instead, he treats Sharpton as a valuable political ally whose support for ADL's ventures is a gift for which he is truly grateful. To be fair to Greenblatt, he's not alone in this respect. Last year, the Union of Reform Judaism played the same game with Sharpton when its Religious Action Center granted its seal of approval to him. That was particularly painful for many in Crown Heights and the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, whose adherents were the victims of what can only be described as a modern-day pogrom that Sharpton helped start. In that case, as with this one, both groups judged politics—in the form of an anti-Trump alliance—as having far greater importance than holding Sharpton accountable for his past. To be a foe of Trump and an ally of the Black Lives Matter movement, which at this moment has become the most powerful force in American public life, is to grant a person a lifetime get-out-of-jail-free card. It is deeply ironic that this is happening at the same time that BLM advocates and the social-media outrage mobs that enforce adherence to the movement's catechism are canceling people left and right—both ordinary citizens and celebrity hypocrites alike—for the sin of opposing any part of the group's radical agenda. Greenblatt has already so trashed ADL's reputation in his pursuit of a liberal political agenda (and perhaps a post in the next Democratic administration) that it may be hard to gin up much outrage about his embrace of a figure as disreputable as Sharpton. But it is no less outrageous for being so predictable and servile. Jonathan S. Tobin is editor in chief of JNS—Jewish News Syndicate. Follow him on Twitter at: @jonathans_tobin. | | Former Health Min. Director: Don't let them brainwash you about coronavirus Prof. Yoram Lass: "There was no first wave of coronavirus in Israel. There is no second wave." Prof. Yoram Lass, the former director general of the Ministry of Health, continues to press for calming panic over coronavirus. "There was no first wave - a lie. In March, April and May, 115 less people died in the State of Israel compared to the same period last year. There was no first wave, it is in the hysterical mind of you know who. In Europe and America there was a very respectable first wave, and no second wave," Lass said in an interview on 103fm. "No government in the world can stop the virus. This is shown by the fact that the only place in the world where there is no virus is Antarctica. The entire world is full of the virus. He added: "The entire state of Israel is full of the virus, no one will stop it. 5 to 10 percent of the population has been infected, it has no significance, it's like the contagious winter viruses. "Despite the vaccine's existence, one million Israelis are actually infected with the flu, 1,000 die of flu complications. In the winter, there's a huge wave of mortality that doesn't interest you." Lass called to "meticulously follow the law," but also "think." "Don't let them brainwash you. Interests stand behind this, as well as foolishness and hysteria. There is a mental illness called anxiety. Believe me, it is an illness from which it is hard to recover, and one who fears does not see the data. There was no first wave in Israel. There is no second wave. "As you do more tests, you find more people - who are healthy - testing positive. And the government insists on calling them sick. "This issue of coronavirus, which is unprecedented in the modern era, will be studied in social science faculties. There was a social phenomenon here because of the virus of social networks, which really brainwashed the entire world." The number of people diagnosed with the virus yesterday was Wednesday, 925, with some counts giving over 1,000. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will convene the Corona Cabinet tomorrow afternoon. The Knesset gave final approval for the resumption of Shin Bet tracking and decided to impose a partial lockdown on Ashdod and Lod neighborhoods. | | If the Vatican is waring it must be good--Vatican Warns Jews, Americans, Against Liberating Biblical Lands By David Israel The Vatican's top diplomat, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, on Wednesday summoned Israeli Ambassador to the Holy See Oren David and American Ambassador Callista Gingrich, wife of you know who, to express concern over Prime Minister Netanyahu's plan to apply Israeli sovereignty to the Jewish settlements in the liberated territories of Judea and Samaria, Reuters reported. The Netanyahu plan has yet to be presented in a complete and fully comprehensible form, but it is believed that the areas he intends to bring under Israeli law in the near future comprise between 10% and 15% of the entire "West Bank," and less than 50% of Area C, where, according to the Oslo Agreement, Israel enjoys full control. Advertisement Nevertheless, Parolin voiced "the concern of the Holy See regarding possible unilateral actions that may further jeopardize the search for peace between Israelis and Palestinians, as well as the delicate situation in the Middle East." "Israel and the State of Palestine have the right to exist and to live in peace and security, within internationally recognized borders," Parolin added. The dire need for Israeli sovereignty has nothing to do with the two-state solution, but with the safety of an estimated 3,000 Jewish homes which are once again in jeopardy after the High Court of Justice killed the 2017 Regulations Act. The result is that Jewish-owned property whose boundaries were reversed by the Israeli government, declaring the purchase of all or parts of it illegal – after the government itself in many cases arranged those purchases. Without the protection of the Regulations Act, anti-Israeli NGO can once again herd Arab claimants who will tell the High Court that Jewish properties belong to them. But under Israeli law, should a claim be made against these properties, the claimants would have to prove their claims in a civil court, where the evidentiary requirements are real – unlike the situation at the High Court, which does not verify evidence. Also, even if a claim is recognized by a civil court, the remedy would not be demolition of the Jewish home but instead fair market value. | | See you tomorrow bli neder We need Mosiach now Love Yehuda Lave | | | |
