Yossi Melamed, famed photographer dies! Video!

Yossi getting Kos Shel Bracha from the Rebbi

Yossi Melamed, a veteran photographer for the Alegemeiner Journal passed away. Yossi Melamed chronicled over 30 years many important events in the New York Jewish community. His pictures were carefully stored and dated.

Over the years he photographed tens of events at 770 for the Algemeiner Journal. He related to Rabbi Dovid Zakliowski director of Lubavitch Archives, after giving him many of his pictures to share with the public, about one of the times he was the only to photograph a special event with the Rebbe.

Lost Parakeet returned after telling police his address!

A pet parakeet was returned to its Japanese owner Wednesday after the brainy bird told police its home address near Tokyo. 

The male bird, called Piko-chan, escaped early Sunday morning from his home in the city of Sagamihara and remained at large before being coaxed into perching on the shoulder of a guest at a nearby hotel. 

He was handed over to local police, but Piko-chan did not speak until Tuesday evening, when he blurted out the names of the city and district where his owner's home is located, a police spokesman said. 

The stunned cops then listened as the parakeet produced the home's block and street number. 

His owner, a 64-year-old woman, once lost another parakeet after it flew away and was determined not to make the same mistake. 

"So the owner decided to teach the address to this parakeet after she bought it at a pet store two years ago," a police spokesman said. "The bird's name was found to be Piko-chan as it said, 'You're pretty, Piko-chan.

Rally for frum man imprisoned in Bolivia!

AN AMERICAN NAMED JACOB OSTREICHER HAS BEEN ILLEGALLY IMPRISONED BY THE BOLIVIAN GOVERNMENT
IT’S TIME TO TAKE NOTICE AND DEMAND HIS FREEDOM
A press conference will be held in front of the Bolivian Mission to the United Nations to rally support for Jacob Ostreicher, an innocent New York businessman who has now been confined for 11 months in one of Bolivia’s most notoriously dangerous prisons without being charged. 

Bolivian authorities have spent the time investigating Ostreicher for money-laundering, after nearly 30 hearings, prosecutors have presented no evidence to back their allegations that the American did anything wrong.  The United States Department of State has had no luck talking to the Bolivian government, and the United Nations Human Rights Commission is “monitoring” Jacob’s situation.

On Tuesday, May 8th, ABC News Nightline will air a segment about Jacob’s plight.  In advance of this airing, Jacob’s family is holding a rally at the door of the Permanent Mission of Bolivia to the United Nations. 211 East 43rd Street at 11:00 AM on Thursday, May 3rd, 2012.

Jacob’s wife Miriam, his children, grandchildren, community and public leaders along with 500 of his friends and supporters will stand in solidarity with Jacob Ostreicher to demand that Bolivia end his wrongful imprisonment and release him immediately.

89 Year Old Kaliver Rebbe engaged to 55 year old lady

The Kaliver Rebbe, HaRav Menachem Mendel Taube Shlita has become a Chosson. The rebbe, 89, is engaged to Moras Sheindel Malinik, 55, of Kiryas Herzog in Bnei Brak.
The rebbe is well known for his Shema Yisrael Center in Yerushalayim and his emphasis on teaching all Jewish children to recite Shema, realizing that the modern State of Israel has wiped this posuk and a frum lifestyle from the minds of millions of children R”L. The rebbe has also opened a Holocaust Museum called ‘Shema Yisrael’, a tribute to the kedoshim of the Holocaust HY”D designed specifically for the chareidi tzibur.
Rebitzen Chana Sara ob”m was nifteres erev Chanukah.

Obama's New Campaign Slogan "Forward" is a Hitler Youth Marching Tune, Video

Seal from the First Bais Hamikdash found with Hebrew lettering

An archaeological work in the 2,000 year-old drainage channel between the City of David and the Jerusalem Archaeological Garden, remains were discovered of the building closest to the First Temple exposed so far in archaeological excavations.

The remains of a building dating to the end of the First Temple period were discovered below the base of the ancient drainage channel that is currently being exposed in Israel Antiquities Authority excavations beneath Robinson’s Arch in the Jerusalem Archaeological Garden, adjacent to the Western Wall of the Temple Mount. This building is the closest structure to the First Temple found to date in archaeological excavations.

In the excavations, underwritten by the Ir David Foundation, a personal Hebrew seal from the end of the First Temple period was discovered on the floor of the ancient building. The seal is made of a semi-precious stone and is engraved with the name of its owner:

"Lematanyahu Ben Ho…" ("למתניהו בן הו..." meaning: "Belonging to Matanyahu Ben Ho…"). 

The rest of the inscription is erased.

From the very start of the excavations in this area the archaeologists decided that all of the soil removed from there would be meticulously sifted (including wet-sifting and thorough sorting of the material remnants left in the sieve). This scientific measure is being done in cooperation with thousands of pupils in the Tzurim Valley National Park. It was during the sieving process that the tiny seal was discovered.

People used personal seals in the First Temple period for the purpose of signing letters and they were set in a signet ring. The seals served to identify their owner, just as they identify officials today.

According to Eli Shukron, excavation director on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, "the name Matanyahu, like the name Netanyahu, means giving to God.

These names are mentioned several times in the Bible. They are typical of the names in the Kingdom of Judah in latter part of the First Temple period - from the end of the eighth century BCE until the destruction of the Temple in 586 BCE. To find a seal from the First Temple period at the foot of the Temple Mount walls is rare and very exciting. This is a tangible greeting of sorts from a man named Matanyahu who lived here more than 2,700 years ago. We also found pottery sherds characteristic of the period on the floor in the ancient building beneath the base of the drainage channel, as well as stone  collapse and evidence of a fire."

Frum 22 Year old girl killed on hiking trip in Mohonk Mountains near New Paltz, UPDATE!

Stephanie Prezant A"H

UPDATED April 30, 2012 4:20PM
On April 29, 2012, the New York State Police at Highland investigated a fatal rock climbing accident that occurred at the Mohonk Preserve in Gardiner, NY. At approximately 1:30 PM, Stephanie Prezant, age 22, of Haworth N.J., was part of a group climbing on the Trapps Cliff section of the Preserve. Prezant had successfully ascended the climb and was returning to the cliff base when she fell, striking her head on the rocks below. Prezant was treated at the scene and transported to St. Francis Hospital in Poughkeepsie, NY where she died of injuries sustained in the fall. Assisting at the scene were Mohonk Preserve Rangers, Mobile Life and Gardiner Fire Department personnel.

Tragedy has struck the frum community once again, with the tragic death of a young woman. According to initial reports, the single, 22-year-old girl was on a hiking trip at Mohonk Mountain House, near New Paltz, when the accident happened, Sunday afternoon.
She was rushed to St Francis Hospital, where she was R”L pronounced dead.
Rabbi Joel Gold, Chaplain at Ulster County Sheriff Dept is working to ensure that proper Kavod is given to the Nifteres.
Misaskim is enroute to the hospital as well.
Further details will be published pending proper family notification.
Boruch Dayan Emmes…

Neshama Carlebach records Hatikvah with changes to the lyrics to include Arabs

She is getting crazier and crazier, first she  mixed ancient Jewish tropes with the pulsating rhythms of an African American Baptist choir,  pushing the boundaries of expectation, and now she decided to insult the intelligence of the Israeli People!

Happy Birthday, Israel!

Yom Hazikoron! Video!

As Israel prepares to begin its Yom Hazikaron [Memorial Day] observance on Tuesday evening many bereaved families are reminded their lives contain a vacuum.


One such famlily is that of former Lt. Colonel Yehuda Ben Shabbat, who served in the IDF Northern Command until he unexpectedly died of a heart attack eight years ago.
Father, son, husband, and brother - Ben Shabbat's tragic passing affected three generations in profound ways.
Natalie Leiba, Ben Shabbat's sister, told Arutz Sheva that every year Yom Hazikaron presents a difficult emotional challenge for the amily.
"It's horrible for us," she said. "Not just Memorial Day, every year. It's like a nightmare. Life changes dramatically, and then the holidays are no longer holidays."
"You feel the void, especially in the case of person who played a powerful role in our lives and united the whole family," Leiba said.
"We have not referred to what we were," she said. "Mother is not mother. She was strong, but today she is a wreck, and father died of grief at 63."
"I lost an amazing brother," she said. "Every year at this time I lose focus for a few days. I cannot think of anything else. The memories well up. It is impossible to describe the loss."
Yom Hazikaron is not only the day on which Israel honors its fallen soldiers, but also those killed in terror attacks by those seeking the destruction of the Jewish state.
Memorial services are held in cemetaries, government buildings, military bases, schools, and private venues to honor the dead and remind the Jewish nation of the cost of freedom and national sovereignty in its ancestral homeland.
Beginning at sundown on Tuesday, Yom Hazikaron will continue until sundown on Wednesday, when Israel's 64th Independence Day celebration will begin.

Never-before-seen photos from 100 years ago of New York

Delancy Street on New York's Lower East Side in this photo dated July 29, 1908

The headline of the newspaper the man is reading in this May 18, 1940 photo reads: 'Nazi Army Now 75 Miles From Paris.' This picture shows the corner of Sixth Avenue and 40th Street in Manhattan

The Third Avenue elevated train rumbles across lower Manhattan in this undated photo. City Hall can be seen in the background

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2134408/Never-seen-photos-100-years-ago-tell-vivid-story-gritty-New-York-City.html#ixzz1t05bNHL5

Urban Outfitters Under Fire over ‘Holocaust T-Shirt’

Fashion retailer Urban Outfitters is facing outcry from Jewish groups over a t-shirt critics say is an offensive reference to the Holocaust.

The yellow shirt features an embroidered, six-pointed star over the breast pocket, and bears unfortunate overtones of the yellow badge Jewish people were forced to wear under the Nazi regime. Designed by the Danish label Wood Wood (whose spring/summer collection makes use of the same symbol), the $100 shirt appeared on the  Urban Outfitters website last Thursday, in the same week as Yom HaShoah, the Holocaust Remembrance Day. Some detractors believe that this was not a coincidence.

“We find this use of symbolism to be extremely distasteful and offensive, and we are outraged that your company would make this product available to your customers,” Barry Morrison, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, wrote in a letter to the chairman of the Philadelphia-based retail firm.

As of this writing the shirt is still available; its page does not feature an acknowledgement of or apology for the scandal by the company, although the ‘Social’ section for the item is brimming with angry comments from both Jewish and non-Jewish viewers. The shirt is “mindblowingly offensive”, one reviewer noted. “I am never stepping foot in one of these stores again,” another wrote.

This is not the first time Urban Outfitters has been embroiled in a racism scandal. The semi-autonomous Native American Navajo Nation sued the store earlier this year for its Navajo underwear and hip-flasks, which the tribe deemed “derogatory and scandalous.”

In February, the store also came under fire from Irish American spokesman Seamus Boyle, president of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, for selling t-shirts bearing slogans such as “Irish I was Drunk,” which Boyle described as “arrogance and disrespect to a whole nation.”

UPDATE: T-shirt designer Wood Wood has responded to the criticism, noting that the offending star-like image only appears on a prototype of the t-shirt and not on the final product:

Read more: http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/04/23/urban-outfitters-under-fire-over-holocaust-t-shirt/#ixzz1t01q2poN

Teenager declared brain-dead by FOUR doctors makes miracle recovery moments before life support machine was switched off after father plead for second opinion

Steven Thorpe awoke from 2-week coma after car crash that killed a man

His devastated parents were even asked to consider donating his organs

Doctors found signs of life only after his father begged them to recheck him

A teenager who was declared brain dead by four doctors made a ‘miracle’ recovery after his parents begged medics for a second opinion - moments before his life support was to be switched off.

Doctors described Steven Thorpe as 'truly a unique case' after he awoke from a two-week coma following a multiple car crash that claimed the life of his schoolfriend.

Steven, then 17, was traveling in a Citroen Saxo with pals Matthew Jones, 18, and Harry Dipper in the early hours of February 1 2008 when a stray horse ran into the path of the car ahead.

Unable to dodge the beast, the car flipped in front of them and back-seat passenger Matthew was flung into the road in the pile up that ensued, which also included a black cab. He never recovered from his injuries.

Steven, who is now 21, was placed in a chemically-induced coma and doctors said he would never recover - they even asked his devastated parents to consider donating his organs.

But Steven’s father begged doctors to reconsider and even enlisted private GP Julia Piper to examine him again after being convinced that their son could recover.

Doctors at University Hospital in Coventry, West Midlands, agreed to let a neurologist re-examine him and, astonishingly, he detected faint brain waves indicating Steven had a slim chance of making a recovery.

NHS chiefs agreed to bring Steven out of his coma to see if he could survive on his own and he stunned medics by making an almost full recovery.

Incredibly, just five weeks later Steven was discharged from hospital.

Speaking about his amazing recovery for the first time, Steven, now aged 21 and a trainee accountant, said: 'My father believed I was still there.

Steven with Dr Julia Piper who saved his life in Leicester. She made doctors take a second look at him before making the final decision to switch his life-support machine off

'He expressed his views to Julia Piper and I think she listened very closely to what my dad had said.

'My impression is maybe the hospital weren’t very happy that my father wanted a second opinion.

'I think the doctors wanted to give me three days on the life support machine and the following day they said they wanted to turn it off.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2134346/Teenager-declared-brain-dead-FOUR-doctors-makes-miracle-recovery-moments-life-support-machine-switched-mother-pleads-second-opinion.html#ixzz1sxdKLivY

Kiryas Yoel on 60 Minutes, Video

Diamond dealer robbed of 1/2 million dollars worth of uncut diamonds by a prostitute!

Next time, maybe, he will hang out in a Bais Medrash! 

The jeweler met a hooker at this bar before she fleeced him.

Hapless gem trader Kurt Kaiser lost out on a deal to sell a half million dollars worth of uncut diamonds, but really hit rock bottom when he despondently picked up a hooker — who took off with the gems. “I woke and thought ‘I’ve been screwed,’ ” Kaiser, 47, told The Post yesterday outside his home in Forest Hills, Queens.

He believes he was drugged by the woman, who was last seen on a hotel surveillance video with his briefcase in one hand and her heels in the other.

Kaiser met the sexy brunette while throwing back drinks at Whiskey Park on Central Park South — his third stop Monday night after blowing a deal to sell the rocks.

“I was sitting by myself having a last vodka and soda, and she came up and asked, ‘Mind if I join you?’ I said: ‘Hell, yeah!’ ”

He spent another 45 minutes at the bar with the 23-year-old Hispanic woman, who wore a short, black dress and high heels.

She suggested they go somewhere more comfortable — the Cosmopolitan Hotel in TriBeCa.

They took a cab and the woman had the driver stop at a CVS, where she used his credit card to buy a $500 gift card and a box of condoms.

Kaiser, who is not married, told cops that only then did he realize she was a hooker, but he carried on with the date anyway, sources said.

He told The Post he started feeling woozy around the same time.

“Whatever she drugged me with, it took effect very quickly,” Kaiser said.

Kaiser, who brought the briefcase full of diamonds to the bar, claims he never told the woman about the precious cargo.

When they got to the room, he removed the small bag containing 45 uninsured stones — 290 carats of diamonds — from his briefcase and hid them in a drawer, “because I was afraid she would steal them,” he said.

They had sex before he passed out.

When he woke up at around 6 a.m., she was gone, along with the stones, the certification documents, his passport, watch and sunglasses.

At least she left his wallet.

“It’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever done in my life,” he said.

Kaiser told cops he put down $50,000 for the diamonds — and had two “investors” whose names he would not divulge.

He was planning to travel to Hong Kong today to try to sell them to another buyer, but now is offering a reward for their return.

Police sources said surveillance video from the hotel clearly shows the woman running down a hallway carrying his briefcase and her shoes.

Cops have dusted the room for prints and are checking a condom for her DNA.

“She probably doesn’t even know what she took,” Kaiser said.

“If she gives them back, I probably won’t press charges,” he said. “She can have someone drop them off at the 1st Precinct.”

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/heist_jeweler_hooker_screwed_me_hAftjlP6dN8etoX3M9bR6M#ixzz1sNRhkUSp

An Open Letter to the upcoming gathering by Gedolim to ban the internet!

It’s beautiful to see such an effort being made amongst our Rabbanim regarding an issue that is finally being taken seriously. It’s also great that we have finally realized the futility in banning something that was inevitably going to be a part of our lives. Our sages taught us long ago “ Ein gozrin gezeirah she'ein hatzibbur yecholim la'amod bo.“ (Halachic deciders should not promulgate an edict if most of the population will not follow the edict). The reason for this principle is simple; the general population will start to lose respect for authority. And while it’s 15 years too late, the past is the past and all we can do is learn from it. But learn from it we must!

This huge problem certainly needs a huge solution, but I’m terribly afraid we are heading for a huge disappointment. If what I read in the pamphlets is true and our hugesolution is filtering, then we have learned nothing from the past.

Filters sound good and make us feel good, but they are completely ineffective. A filter is only as effective as much as the person using it wants to be filtered. And while it’s a great way to stop pop-ups and inappropriate web-pages, it is irrelevant to the issue we are facing. I will be brief as to why filters don’t work by highlighting some facts people may be unaware of.

1.

1. TECHNOLOGICALLY- The Internet by design was created not to be filtered. By designing it as a web, no matter how much you try you can’t control the information. Look at the middle east countries where dictators were brought down by social networking. Of course they tried everything in their power to pull the plugs, but the Internet can’t be controlled. The MPAA tried to stop peer-to-peer file sharing and was never successful. The internet was designed in the 1960's using a system called packet switching so that traffic can always reroute itself, which makes censorship almost impossible.
2. PASSWORD - When I was just 17 and the web was first starting to explode my father was visited by one of the first “filter companies”. They wanted his haskama. During the demonstration my father asked me what I thought. I sat down at the computer and with a few clicks bypassed the filter. My father told them to come back when my child can’t disable the filter. They never came back. I wasn’t a computer genius and you don’t have to be one. Any child can learn to break even the most sophisticated password protection. All you need is for one person to figure it out and within seconds all his friends will too. And for those without friends they can google it. Monitoring software can be disabled just as easily. So can the “chavrusa system”. Don’t be fooled by the companies trying to sell you their products.
3. WIFI. Free unfiltered wireless internet is available almost anywhere you go. The current goal is to have wifi available free over the entire USA, as it is already in some cities. Any filter you have at home is irrelevant. Almost every new electronic device has wifi capability. And trying to password protect every one of them is an unrealistic goal.

I remember when some US senator came up with the idea to make inappropriate sites have a button that says “Click here if you are over 18”. He should be awarded the nobel prize for that brilliant idea!

Filtering and monitoring are necessary, and they work well in schools and public places, but if the point of this convention is about filters, then call it an expo and make it at the Jacob Javitz Center. Its time we deal with the new realities of the day and we therefore must look for real solutions.

Fortunately there are huge solutions but they take more effort than buying a $100 filter. It takes dedication and lots of time. The good news is, there are Rebbeyim and teachers that are willing to do it. We have B”H in our day a young generation of talent that is eager to help, but they need proper direction.

So, while Filters are important and sound great, I give it an F. An F because it will Fail us and an F because it willFool us into thinking we solved our problems.

The real solutions all start with an E and they have an Excellent track record.

Education, Excitement, Entertainment, Endearment, Exposure, Expression, Embracement and Enjoyment!

Education – We need to educate our children by teaching them why our Jewish values are superior to the values they see outside (or now, online). We need to teach them how to handle challenges that come their way and stop making believe it doesn’t happen. Life is about making choices and we need to teach our children how to how to choose wisely, including on the Internet. When a Rebbi or teacher is unable to acknowledge that his class is using the Internet, he can’t have a discussion about it. When social networking is not allowed, how do you teach online privacy and safety.

Excitement – We need to make our schools more exciting. There are countless organizations that are using technology to make yiddishkeit more engaging and fun; from interactive jewish learning to smart-boards in the classrooms. With the vast information available on kosher websites, there is so much useful and helpful content for everyone to make use of today.

Entertainment – We need to bring kosher entertainment back to our youth. Concerts, rallies, and overnight trips should be encouraged not banned. Yes, they may learn less now, but in the long run we will have children who love to be Jewish.

Endearment – We need EVERY child feel wanted, both by his family and school. We need to get rid of names like “kids at risk” and “off the derech”. All of us are at risk and we should never judge others as off the derech. Every parent is told never to call their child “bad” because then they will then act bad. Same with these labels, they accomplish nothing. No child wants to go to an “at risk school”. Rebbeyim should treat every child as at risk. Schools and parents have to accept every child no matter what level of religiosity they’re at. Never should we make a child feel unwanted because it will cause shame to the rest of the family or because it will give the school a bad reputation.

Exposure – In the words of Rav Hirsch, If you keep a child indoors all the time then the first time he goes outdoors he will catch a cold. Instead we must expose them as youngsters so that when they get older and leave the home and face the outside world they will be prepared.

Expression – we must allow our children to express themselves. That means they can ask any questions they have. They should decide the topic of the day and we should listen to what they feel. No student should feel guilty for asking something that’s bothering them. Just as a therapist always asks “tell me how YOU feel about it” we should do the same in the classrooms.

Embracement- we need to embrace technology because that’s our connection to the younger generation. This is the way they communicates and it’s not going to change. When you mock texting, you mock them. When you ban facebook you’re banning them and your distancing yourself from their world. As one teenager told me; “ I’m not addicted to my cellphone or facebook, I’m addicted to my friends,” and who of us isn't?

Enjoyment - Lastly, we need to make sure our children find enjoyment as being Jewish. Better that we have less tests and let the children have more fun, rather then have them think Judaism is boring and undesirable. Because those who don't find enjoyment in being Jewish will either leave the fold or stay Jewish but resentful inside, which may even be worse.

We need to remember the words of Chazal “Chanoch Lena’ar al Pi Darko”. This R' Hirsch says is the golden rule of education of which the Torah requires of us. We have to evaluate each child and see where his/her strengths are and then equip and train them early for that which they will practice when they have outgrown our guidance. Whether it’s the path we envisioned for them or not, we shouldn't focus on changing our kids but working with them. Read the words carefully “teach them according to their future path” not ours!

I once asked my father why they keep banning all Jewish events, and he told me, because it’s the easy way out. Blaming is also easy. Parents blame the schools and the schools blame the parents. We blame our kids friends and we blame our neighbors. Now we found something new to blame, technology, and it cant even defend itself! In a recent book entitled “Off the Derech” Faranak Margolese interviews many teens as to why they went off the Derech. The three main reasons she found was, a lack of positive feelings, unanswered questions about Jewish beliefs and the ability for our children to develop their unique emotional and religious potential. Technology did not even make it on the list. Sure, the internet can be used as a tool for those looking to get away but so can everything. By blaming technology loose focus, we should aim to fix the source of the problem.

We can keep trying to shelter our kids more and more until we suffocate them or we can choose to teach them how to live as a frum Jew in the new millennium. It takes work and dedication to find real solutions, but if we don’t, we might as well start preparing for the 2nd convention in five years from now, where I'm sure a new updated filter will be announced!

Dovid Teitelbaum

Director, Camp Sdei Chemed International

*My haskamas are from the 100’s of teens I know looking for real answers and real direction in this very confusing world we live in today; and from the elephant in the room.

At Beersheba Zoo, you have to be a Chareidie and dress Tznisdik to watch Monkeys and snakes!

The lions and monkeys were all in the nude, but the people watching them had to be dressed tznisdik ...... also you had to be 
either Chareidie or Yeshivish to enter the zoo.

 The men and their boy children were separated from the ladies and girl children....
I wonder how these guys made the Seder? Were they in different rooms?
Read the following from Ynet.com and laugh! Except if you were a Young Israel guy wearing a Kipah Serugah waiting in the hot broiling sun to get in!

The fourth day of the holiday drew large numbers of travelers out of their homes, but those who chose to visit the Beersheba zoo found closed gates. The zoo was open for the haredi public only, visitors argued, without any prior notice. A small sign on the zoo's gate confirmed the allegations, while the zoo's management insists that entrance to the zoo was not limited."We arrived at the zoo at 9:50, 10 minutes before it opens," said Avigail Kanterovich, who arrived at the zoo with her family, friends and their children.

"We tried to buy tickets, and the cashier told us they will not allow us to enter, since it is only for haredim today." According to her, there was no prior notice, and nowhere did it say that the zoo would be closed for visitors today according to religious affiliation. "They performed selection (DIN:Umm, where did  I hear this term before?) at the entrance, and didn't allow even national-religious people to enter. Only the haredim."

Kanterovich said that only after a long argument they were allowed entrance. "We were furious. They let us wait in the sun for 20 minutes, and no one came to talk with us." According to her, only later the management put up a sign stating the entrance was restricted to haredim only. Eventually they were allowed in the zoo.

The municipality: Living in harmony

Another visitor, Yael, also saw the sign. "Outside, the public was mixed," she recounts. "Eventually they let us in, but everything inside was separated for boys and girls." Yael too said the visitors had to wait outside for a while before they could enter.

The zoo's manager explained that the site was closed due to a special event for the Orthodox public, but everyone who wished to enter could do so if appropriately dressed.The Beersheba municipality said that as part of the holiday's event, the city held an event for the ultra-Orthodox public at the zoo. However, contrary to the allegations, entrance was allowed to everyone who wanted to participate in the event. "In Beersheba we're living in harmony, religious and seculars together, and we will continue to do so in the future," the municipality stated.

Ein Gedi on Chol Hamoed

What would the Monsey Rabbis say about this...

Little Chassidic boys enjoying Water Falls in Ein Gedi, Photo credit: Dusiznies™

Had the opportunity to see Chassidic little boys frolicking in the water falls, nearby was a lady in a bikini...

Birchas Kohanim at the Kotel!

Getting to the Kotel on the blisteringly sunny second day of Hol Hamoed, the intermediate days of Passover, was no easy task.

All the way from the Safra Square light rail station, visitors clogged the sidewalks of Jaffa Road – even blocking the doors of the train itself – en route to the Old City’s Jaffa Gate, a veritable testament to the art of weaving that rivaled the pedestrian chaos of New York City’s Times Square.

The exodus continued through Jaffa Gate and down the winding streets of the Old City, punctuated by a blaring musical performance at the entrance and salesmen all along the route who were eager to sell their wares to passersby in every language they could dredge up.

Jews and Christians of all colors and shapes from every corner of the world – from those in shtreimels and tzitzit to those in miniskirts and tank tops, from those in New York Knicks T-shirts to those in Victorian- era wide-brimmed chapeaus – were making their way to the city’s indisputably most popular point, the Western Wall, in Hebrew the Kotel.

All in all it took me about an hour-and-a-half to trek the mere 500 meters from Jaffa Gate to the Wall – albeit with a few wrong turns, necessary to even a veteran visitor of the area – with foot traffic coming to a complete and utter standstill at the intersection of David and Muristan streets, the cross-section between the Christian and Armenian quarters. Tour groups struggled to get by as mothers and fathers clenched their children’s wrists, and a particularly astute toddler decided to use one of the narrow stone ramps bridging the rigid cobblestone as a slide.

Turning the corner at Chain Gate and Hakotel Street, I joined an amalgamated mass – a line – next to the sign that simply reads “Wall,” indicating the final descent into the Kotel complex.

Once through security, I emerged on top of the stairwell looking down at an ocean of people, thousands upon thousands of visitors roaming the bright landscape below and clamoring to the ancient remains of the Temple’s retaining wall.

Several Magen David Adom emergency stations set up all around the area dealt with the potential consequences of the sundrenched, crowded, sweaty and densely populated venue, and also, apparently, served as a meeting point for lost children, husbands and wives as per the occasional loudspeaker announcement.

Families handed off cameras to one another, asking strangers to take their portraits in front of the sacred space as infants howled in the heat. An enormous sign at the entrance to the women’s side of the wall read “no entrance for strollers,” but strollers rolled through the gateway regardless, bumping freely among the rows of prayerful women whose children twirled around next to them. 

Toward the end of my visit, as I was leaning against one of several shady wood partitions in the center of the complex, a young woman and her two little girls approached me, asking if I had a pen and paper.

Tearing a sheet out of my notebook and handing over my pen, I watched as the girls wrote what were probably their first notes to tuck into the fractures among the Kotel's stones. Shyly, one of the girls – about five years old – went to the other side of the partition to write her message. “We won’t look,” her mother told her, giggling.

When she was finished, the little girl handed me back the pen with a wide grin.

Looking around, I saw hundreds of parents and their children, religious and not, partaking in that same, generation-old tradition and celebrating freedom on that sunny day together. And I realized that no matter how we divide ourselves and how different we may be, on that Hol Hamoed Passover afternoon at the Kotel, everyone had come to the same place in search of the same thing.

Monsey Rabbonim ban Uncle Moshe Concert!

Yes! It's true! 

 Our Holy Tzadikkim of Monsey, are bored and are going stir crazy being holed up with their families a whole Pesach, so they decided to send out a phone message to all residents of our "Holy" city, not to attend the Uncle Moshe, Bello the Clown and Miami Boys concerts because there is family seating!
So if you are a mother of little children, and your husband is working (The Holy Tzadikkim never thought of this scenario), they don't want you sitting with your boys. They would rather you sit separate and have your boy children sit on the men side alone waiting for some sexual pervert to molest them!
G-D forbid that families should be together!
The Rabbonim have apparently learned nothing from their previous ban of the "Lipa Smeltzer" concert. 
Lipa is doing better then ever despite the ban.
The Chazal state that "Rabbonim should not ban something that the people  will not by in large abide by"!!


I have a theory on why they banned the concerts. They want to take a break from learning (Bein Hazmanim)... they have no TV, no Ipad, no IPhone, no nothing, so they want to impart their misery on us innocent souls... as the famous adage goes "misery loves company" 
just my thoughts...