Breaking News: Israel's new 'Equal Commute' reform: Lower prices, over 75 rides for free! and Harvard Law School Calls Israel An Apartheid Regime By Ronn Torossian and Everything you need to know about kitniyot - opinion by DAVID LEVINE and Lake Kinneret Water Level Approaching Capacity By Hana Levi Julian and Arabs attack Police at Damascus Gate
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 that Nisson is here and Pesach will be here soon, time to read why thinking Askanzi Jews living in Israel give up the minhag of Kitniot. We do a lot to be a Jew, no point in keeping extra minhagim
Israel's new 'Equal Commute' reform: Lower prices, over 75 rides for free
Prices for all forms of public transport were decreased dramatically for Israelis of all ages all across the country.
Israelis over the age of 75 will no longer be required to pay for public transport, Transportation Minister Merav Michaeli and Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman announced Sunday as part of the new "Equal Commute" reform.
Prices for all forms of Israeli public transport were also decreased dramatically for Israelis of all ages all across the country as part of the reform, set to take effect ahead of summer.
A monthly travel ticket, which can be used in every bus and train station nationwide (Eilat not included), will cost NIS 225. Israeli children and teenagers, along with people with disabilities and citizens aged 62-75, will receive a 50% discount.
Regional monthly travel tickets outside of Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa that cover a radius of up to 40 km. can be bought for only NIS 99, with a 50% discount given to elderly Israelis in the Negev and Galilee regions.
Transportation Minister Merav Michaeli and Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman give a press conference to present the public transport reform planned for this coming summer at the Jerusalem railway station (credit: OLIVIER FITOUSSI/FLASH90)
Changes were also made regarding fares, with inner-city buses in most of the country now being just NIS 5.50 per ride. Before the reforms, rates for inner-city rides varied significantly between cities and areas.
As part of the reform, Israel Railways will set five tariffs for a single, one-use ticket based on the distance of travel.
"The reform we have announced today is transportation justice," Michaeli said during its unveiling at Jerusalem's Yitzhak Navon railway station in the city center.
The goal of the "Equal Commute" reform is to encourage Israelis to use public transportation, Michaeli added, which will "get us out of traffic, reduce accidents on the roads and help us with our climate crisis goals."
"Former transportation ministers have neglected Israeli public transport for many years," the transportation minister said. "The varying prices for different cities were a result of longstanding political deals: inequality in all its glory.
The Three Musketeers at the Kotel
The Three are Rabbi Yehuda Glick, famous temple mount activist, and former Israel Mk, and then Robert Weinger, the world's greatest shofar blower and seller of Shofars, and myself after we had gone to the 12 gates of the Temple Mount in 2020 to blow the shofar to ask G-d to heal the world from the Pandemic. It was a highlight to my experience in living in Israel and I put it on my blog each day to remember.
The articles that I include each day are those that I find interesting, so I feel you will find them interesting as well. I don't always agree with all the points of each article but found them interesting or important to share with you, my readers, and friends. It is cathartic for me to share my thoughts and frustrations with you about life in general and in Israel. As a Rabbi, I try to teach and share the Torah of the G-d of Israel as a modern Orthodox Rabbi. I never intend to offend anyone but sometimes people are offended and I apologize in advance for any mistakes. The most important psychological principle I have learned is that once someone's mind is made up, they don't want to be bothered with the facts, so, like Rabbi Akiva, I drip water (Torah is compared to water) on their made-up minds and hope that some of what I have share sinks in. Love Rabbi Yehuda Lave.
Lake Kinneret Water Level Approaching Capacity
Photo Credit: Rachel Lyra Hospodar via Flickr
Lake Kinneret.
The level of the water in Lake Kinneret (also known as the Sea of Galilee) rose on Monday by one centimeter after a weekend of sporadic rainfall.
Lake Kinneret constitutes the largest reservoir of drinking water in the State of Israel.
In the past week, the water level has risen by a total 10 centimeters (3.9 inches).
The water level in the lake now stands at 209.41 meters (687 feet) below sea level – just 61 centimeters (2 feet) below its full capacity, a level also known as the "upper red line" and 3.6 meters (11.8 feet) above the "lower red line" which indicates the water is at a dangerously low level.
According to ecology experts, once the water level descends below the lower red line, it marks the start of damage to the ecological balance and water quality of the lake. At that point, it is prohibited to pump or use water from Lake Kinneret. But luckily, we are far away from that state.
Everything you need to know about kitniyot - opinion by DAVID LEVINE
Ashkenazi Jews have a custom of not eating legumes on Passover.
With Passover quickly approaching, it might be a good time to start the discussion on kitniyot (legumes). It is the question repeatedly asked: "Do you eat kitniyot?"
Let's start with defining what is kitniyot. According to the Orthodox Union (OU), it is an Ashkenazi minhag (custom) developed in the Middle Ages to not eat certain foods known collectively as kitniyot.
The Orthodox Union (OU) cites three reasons for the minhag: (a) kitniyot is harvested and processed in the same manner as hametz (leaven or food mixed with leaven); (b) it is ground into flour and baked just like hametz (so people may mistakenly believe that if they can eat kitniyot, they can also eat hametz); and (c) it may have hametz grains mixed into it (so people who eat kitniyot may inadvertently be eating hametz). Although there were those who initially objected to the minhag, it has become an accepted part of Passover in all Ashkenazi communities.
It is interesting to note that the OU clearly calls the prohibition of kitniyot a minhag and not a halacha (Jewish law), yet their web page on this topic has a section called "the laws of kitniyot."
Which foods are kitniyot? Generally speaking, they are legumes, as well as corn and rice, which the medieval rabbis in Ashkenazi Jewish communities prohibited, owing to their similarity when ground to wheat flour. Peanuts are not kitniyot, but are often included as kitniyot.
A family seen during the ''passover seder'' on the first night of the 8-day long Jewish holiday of Passover, in Tzur Hadassah, April 8, 2020. (credit: NATI SHOHAT/FLASH90)
Then there is the issue of derivatives, things made from kitniyot. Earlier rabbis declared that oil made from kitniyot is forbidden on Passover, but some later rabbis suggest that such oil may be permitted because some of the original reasons for the minhag don't apply. In other words, ask your rabbi.
In 2007, three rabbis from Machon Shilo, an institution dedicated to the study of Jewish law and custom as practiced in Israel, issued a ruling permitting Ashkenazi Jews to eat kitniyot. The Machon Shilo organization, as reported in The Jerusalem Post ("Passover: Is kitniyot on wane, does it presage a unified Jewish custom?" March 30, 2021), argued that citizens of Israel are neither Ashkenazi nor Sephardi but have become "Jews of the Land of Israel," and consequently, should abide by the customs and practices of Israel and not by previous customs. From the point of view of creating an am echad (one nation), this is a great perspective to consider and act upon. It is such an important point of view that even the great Rabbi Hillel said, "Do not separate yourself from the community" (Pirkei Avot 2:5). Kitniyot vs. non-kitniyot is a key issue creating separation.
While these respected positions have not been followed in Ashkenazi Orthodox communities, according to research published by the Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI) in 2019, only 53% of individual Ashkenazi Jews in Israel who observe kashrut abide by the total kitniyot ban.
Also, since most Sephardi Jews, as well as Jews from North Africa and elsewhere never adopted the custom of refraining from kitniyot on Passover, and because the majority of Jews in Israel are not Ashkenazi, it has become difficult to obtain kosher for Passover products that are not made with kitniyot. Therefore, during the seven-day joyous celebration of Israelite freedom, Ashkenazim are unable to celebrate eating with Sephardim and those who don't hold by kitniyot.
THE APPROPRIATE position is that Jews should abide by the customs and practices of the country they live in. As all are agreed kitniyot is not halacha (law), another approach might be to call this minhag a foolish or mistaken custom. We then ask two questions: Is it permissible to do away with a foolish or mistaken custom? Why should one do away with a foolish custom?
To the first question: Is it permissible to do away with a foolish custom or mistaken custom? The answer: Yes! Many rabbinic authorities have ruled that it is permitted, and perhaps even obligatory, to do away with this type of foolish custom (Maimonides a.k.a. Rambam, the Rosh, the Ribash and many others).
To the second question: Why should one do away with a foolish or mistaken custom? Answer: There are many good reasons: (a) It detracts from the joy of the holiday by limiting the number of permitted foods; (b) It causes exorbitant price rises which result in major financial loss; (c) It emphasizes the insignificant (rice, beans and legumes) and ignores the significant (hametz which is, by Jewish law, indisputably forbidden from the five kinds of grain); and (d) it causes unnecessary divisions between different Jewish ethnic groups.
There is only one reason Ashkenazim still hold by this custom (again, not law): Tradition! However, does a tradition or a custom outweigh the rabbinic rulings and logic laid out above? Logic and rabbinic rulings. What more could you ask for?
How about Beit Hillel and Beit Shammai? They are two well-known scholars who lived in the first century B.CE.. and were on different sides of legal rabbinic interpretations that form the way we practice Judaism to this very day.
In most cases, Beit Hillel's opinion is the more lenient and tolerant of the two. In nearly all cases, Beit Hillel's opinion has been accepted as normative by Halacha and is often the opinion followed by modern Jews.
According to the Virtual Jewish Library, this is because both the words of Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel are enduring on the conceptual level, but each has its time and place on a pragmatic level. The sixteenth-century kabbalist Rabbi Isaac Luria (the Ari) believed that in our present reality, where divine commandments must be imposed upon an imperfect world, the rulings of Beit Hillel represent the ultimate in conformity to the divine will, so we follow the more lenient rulings of Beit Hillel, while the rulings of Beit Shammai represent an ideal that is too lofty for our present state (which is why those rulings are perceived as more strict and more confining), and can only be realized on a conceptual level. In the era of the Messiah, the situation will be reversed.
So, we must ask again, why are the Ashkenazi rabbis still holding on to a foolish or mistaken custom that is allowed to be changed by respected giants of their generation and is in keeping with following the leniency of the great Beit Hillel?
Which present gadol hador (great leader of the generation) Ashkenazi rabbi, or even the Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Israel, will discuss and rule in favor of removing this mistaken custom? It is difficult enough to be Jewish; why not make this non-halachic issue go away?
Change has precedence here. Consider that just one generation ago, peanut oil was certified kosher for Passover for Ashkenazim.
Such a change might even have some unintended benefits. For example, along with mostly one-day holidays in Israel, being able to eat kitniyot might be another incentive for North American and European aliyah. It might lead to more inclusiveness between different cultural communities within Israel. It could contribute to Israelis become more of one nation. All of which are good things.
The Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Israel should rule: "If you live in Israel, you may eat kitniyot or not." In other words, keep your customs (if you want) but don't let them stop you from sharing, learning, and adopting experiences and customs from other Jews to make you closer Israel and one nation.
Without the kitniyot issues, instead of being Ashkenazi or Sephardi Jews, or Jews from Morocco, Ethiopia, or India, we would be one more step closer to simply being Jews of Israel. When we live in Israel, rabbinically and legally, we should not be Ashkenazi Jews or anything else, we should be one nation, Israel. And this small issue of kitniyot might be a good place to start.
Dear Ashkenazi rabbis, when can we get this on your calendars?
The writer is a former NYC advertising and marketing executive. He is semi-retired but continues as an instructor at Rutgers University School of Communication & Information and as a consultant. He made aliyah in 2015 and lives in Ashkelon with his wife. Follow him on Twitter @davidslevine
Sunday night in the heart of Jerusalem, at Damascus Gate, Israeli police were assaulted by large mobs of Arabs. They were pummeled with fists and pelted with stones and iron rods. The reason this time? They tell me it's Ramadan, the holy month of Muslim introspection, charity and good deeds. It is logical that it must begin with attacking Jews.
That however was the first time I have seen Arab Ramadan celebrants dare express their religious fervor by challenging a cop in a fistfight.
"The times, they are a changin".. Today this most famous, historic, and beautiful city gate is a no-go area for Jews who are repeatedly pounced upon by Arabs. The police dare not walk alone. Of course, it wasn't always this way. Damascus Gate, or Sha'ar Shechem in Hebrew, is the one that faces the heart of East Jerusalem and has heavy Arab traffic. I was always aware of the human scenery around me and that as a Jew I was a minority in that space but that was exactly why I thought it was important for Jews to be a part of the scenery. Jerusalem is ours after all and Jews are free to be in any part of it. Right? That was so for the first few years after the miraculous 1967 Six-Day war. They feared us then. We fear them now. What happened? Of Course, it's all our ("leaders'') fault. But I recall how an authentic Jewish leader understood the developing problem there many years ago and did whatever he could and beyond that to warn us. The Gates of the Old City of Jerusalem have a mezuzah on them as Jewish law and sovereignty demands. Because Damascus gate is in the "Arab " area, the authorities felt it was a "provocation" to affix a mezuzah to its doorpost and so forbid it in order to buy quiet and good neighborly relations. They did not want to unnecessarily provoke the Arabs with Jewish symbols in "their" areas. One rabbi who,we now understand, saw further and clearer than any other in his time, insisted it was of the utmost importance to affix a mezuzah and publicly make the required blessing with dignitaries present. Common wisdom then condemned him as an agitator and the cause of communal tension. He was dragged away from the Gate Time and again as he tried to affix the mezuzah . He bore the embarrassment of being dragged by Jewish police in front of jeering Arabs. The establishment smugly watched with satisfaction as the radical rabbi's threat to coexistence was removed and discredited. However, he did not stop warning us. He did not stop begging his fellow Jews to listen. Fast forward a few decades to the same Mezuzah-less Gate.There is no mezuzah. There is no radical rabbi. There is a Left-wing, appeasing government that coddles the Arabs in every way. Yet, or rather as the rabbi would have warned, as a direct result of that, the Arabs unleash their hate and are emboldened as never before. When they smell Jewish blood they can never have enough. Now imagine if there was a mezuzah on the Gate, as halacha and sovereignty demand of all Jewish gates. Imagine if the mezuzah and the gate were protected as if it was indeed ours. Imagine if the rabbi who warned us so long ago were in charge instead of the "leaders" whose wise solutions have led us to where we are today. Imagine if when a Muslim enemy who attacks a Jew is killed and buried in a pigskin. Thus the "shaheed" , the hero will be refused entry into the Muslim heaven and won't meet his black-eyed virgins. Killing Jews becomes less attractive. It worked for the enlightened British who introduced this tactic.. Theodore Herzl said. "If you will it, it is not a dream" Imagine. Dream. Act.
By Shalom Pollock
Harvard Law School Calls Israel An Apartheid Regime
Right on the Harvard Law School website (here) one can learn that the school has deemed and recognized Israel in a recent report to the United Nations as "an apartheid regime."
The full 22-page report can be read here, and claims that Israel systematically discriminates against Palestinians and suppresses their civil and political rights." Harvard's report "finds that Israel's actions in the occupied West Bank are in breach of the prohibition of apartheid and amount to the crime of apartheid under international law."
Other statements include that "Since 1967, Israel has exerted full control throughout most of the occupied West Bank", the "regime functions in purpose and effect to create a two tiered structure of rights and protections, systematically privileging Jewish Israeli settlers and discriminating against Palestinians."
The report further criticizes Israel for banning six Palestinian organizations which Israel has accused of terrorism. In a section headlined "Apartheid in the Occupied West Bank", the report says that "A finding of apartheid in the occupied West Bank requires ascertaining whether the Israeli occupation has committed: (i) inhuman act(s), (ii) with the intent to establish or maintain domination of Jewish Israelis over Palestinians, (iii) in the context of an institutionalized regime of systematic racial discrimination and oppression."
The report goes on to state that "Israel's prevalent and well-documented practices of arbitrarily detaining Palestinians under the guise of broadly defined security offenses, denying Palestinian detainees' basic fair trial and due process rights, using ill-treatment and torture with impunity, and placing Palestinians in prolonged administrative detention without charges or trial, together can amount to the inhuman act of denying Palestinians the right to liberty of person."
They further accuse Israel of "inhuman acts", "and the deliberate creation of conditions preventing the full development of such a group by denying them basic human rights and freedoms."
Harvard Law School goes on to accuse Israel of "persecution", severely restricting Palestinians' exercise of their basic rights to free expression and free association and assembly (of which surely there is a lot of under the Palestinian Authority). Nowhere in the report is there any nuance – no mention of terrorism against Israel, security concerns, the Palestinian Authority's human rights records, Israel's rights to any of the land.
The report concludes that Israel practices apartheid.
Not surprising in reading this report, one can find at Harvard Law School a spring 2022 class on "Law, Human Rights, and Social Justice in Israel and Palestine" taught by Ms. Salma Waheedi. Ms. Waheedi has signed a letter to "express solidarity with the Palestinian people in their struggle for freedom and self-determination. Israeli state violence has devastated Palestinian life through a combination of warfare, territorial theft, and violent displacement. Unwavering US financial, military, and political support has fueled an apartheid system that institutionalizes the domination and repression of Palestinians."
A number of Harvard Law School professors go on to state that "Palestinians are not only denied freedom and self-determination, they are even denied the right to resist. Palestinian resistance in all its forms is criminalized by Israel and the US. Every measure of self-defense by a people without a state or an army against a nuclear power backed by the US. They "demand an end to US support for Israel's apartheid regime, condemn Israeli state aggression, and affirm our support for the Palestinian liberation struggle."
The report was co-authored by Adameer, an organization which among other things NGO Monitor maintains "vehemently opposed a new clause in European Union grant contracts with Palestinian NGOs that prohibits grantees from working with and funding organizations and individuals designated on the EU's terror lists.
Israel's Ministry of Defense declared Addameer a "terror organization" because it is part of "a network of organizations" that operates "on behalf of the 'Popular Front'." Addameer's founder and former chairperson, was banned in 2017 and 2019 from traveling due to his alleged membership in the PFLP.
Harvard Law School's partner, Adameer refers to the Israeli army as the "Israeli Occupying Forces," and accuses Israel of "collective punishment," "war crimes," and a "policy of using Palestinian prisoners as pawns to achieve political and military gains." The organization has worked with pro-BDS organizations and more.
In explaining the family gift, Julis said: "My parents, grandparents and relatives made sure that the rich heritage of Judaism, including its values and history, and the importance of Israel, both to the Jewish People and the world, were consistent parts of our spiritual and intellectual growth. This gift to Harvard Law School is in deep gratitude and love for the gift of heritage our families gave us and which we have strived to give to our children."
Mr. Julis – and all donors to Harvard Law School – should examine if they want their money to go to an institution which deems Israel an apartheid regime.
