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Random Reflections On The Elections Results

• So would Maimonides also not have been elected? (H/t @ravtzair)

• The Israeli center has basically said that they don't want to be poor Social Democrats, they prefer to be well off middle class.

• Labor only got two more mandates than in the last election. Considering that their current leader is immeasurably superior to Ehud Barak, Labor clearly did not receive many votes from the social protest movements. 

• Slightly more people (26,744 at time of writing) voted for religious crackpot "Harav" Amnon Yitzchak, then for secular crackpot Elad Yaniv (26,331). On the other hand over 700 people voted for the "Brit Olam" party headed by someone claiming to be the Messiah.

• The Jewish Home has just about doubled their size. This is a huge achievement, and they shouldn't be crying because they didn't get even more. 

• Kadima's mandates more or less all went to Yesh Atid, Hatenuah and...Kadima.  

Prayer Before Voting

There is no point in translating this, but I was mildly amused:

:תפילה קצרה לאומרה לפני ההצבעה

ריבונו של עולם!

תן לי "כוח להשפיע" על "עם שלם", 

לקום ב"נץ" או להתפלל ב"עבודה",

ללמוד ב"מרץ" את ה"שס" וללכת "קדימה" 

למען חיזוק "יהדות התורה" בארץ, ואז תהיה "עוצמה לישראל",

שיהיה בעמנו "איחוד לאומי" ו"ליכוד" של כל חלקי העם,

וש"ביתנו" יהיה "בית יהודי" אחד גדול.

"יש עתיד"!!!

ויכניס מיד פתק טב ויפה לקלפי!

"Blowing Up The Dome of the Rock" v. "Wiping Israel Off The Map"

Yesterday a small storm in a teacup erupted in the Israeli media, when Israel Channel 2 news aired a video showing Jeremy Gimpel - 14th place candidate in the Jewish Home party - badly expressing his views on the Temple Mount:

When I watched the video, my initial reaction was that it was crystal clear that  Gimpel was making a joke, and in no way whatsoever was he actually calling for the Dome of the Rock to be blown up. It was so clear, I couldn't initially understand how anyone could think otherwise. I had this twitter exchange with Jeffery Goldberg:

The conversation continued for a few tweets. However, the question Goldberg asked, namely what is the difference between Gimpel's comment and the Iranian threats is a hard one. 

Trying to think of an answer, exposed to me some of my underlying assumptions. I feel more than qualified to dismiss Gimpel's comment as a joke. This dismissal is based on my familiarity with religious, anglo-Israeli, RZ  speech, in a way that allows me to have no doubt that I understand the true meaning of Gimpel's words. However, I have no similar familiarity with Iranian culture. Is it possible I have been misunderstanding their political jokes? have we been giving too much weight to statements that are not intended to be taken seriously? in other words, is it possible that Iranians hearing Gimpel's speech will come to the conclusion that he is speaking seriously? 

Harav Ovadia Slams Habayit Hayehudi

From Jpost:

Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef on Saturday night condemned the Bayit Yehudi party, saying whoever votes for them "denies the Torah," Army Radio reported.

Speaking at his weekly Saturday night Torah session, Yosef said the party intends to "uproot the Torah, to allow civil marriages, and to have public transportation on Shabbat," Army Radio quoted him as saying.

The Rabbi added that it is forbidden to vote for them.

Allow civil marriages, and public transportation on Shabbat? I wish Habayit Hayehudi were so liberal. Sadly,  Habayit Hayehudi is far less friendly.

Halachic Lawfare?

This ad published this week in Be'Sheva is a call for Arieh Deri, the leader of Shas (Israeli Haredi political party) to be tried in a rabbinic court (Beit Din - not to be confused with the state's own Rabbinic Courts) for his part in approving the Oslo Agreements. The author claims that due to the Oslo Agreements, thousand of terrorists were allowed to enter Israel (presumably he means the territories) and then cites the number of Israelis killed by terrorists since Oslo. Notably the author's own husband and kids are included in that category. 

Previously there was a similar attempt to call MK Gafni from Yahdut Hatorah to a rabbinic court over his involvement with the Gaza Disengagement plan. Interestingly, the rabbinic court agreed to hear the case, rather than rejecting it out of hand. If anyone knows what happened with the case, I would be interested to know. 

Both cases are examples of the special vulnerability of Hardi MKs. In a rabbinic court it would seem MKs do not enjoy immunity for their actions. This means that Haredi MKs need always worry that they will personally be attacked using Halachic Lawfare. I would guess that their best defense will be to make sure that the cases are heard in a sympathetic tribunal. Normally the respondant can choose the Beit-Din where a case will be heard, and in this case all MKs would be wise to navigate to a Zionist Beit Din where there is a good chance that they would accept wider considerations of immunity for MKs, or even  accept the state's immunity as Dina Demalchuta.

Hat Tip: Rav Tzair

On the Expression "Remove A Plank From Your Own Eye"

Reading the Economist this week, In an editorial about America's handeling of the fiscal cliff, I was struck by the highlighted sentence:

FOR the past three years America’s leaders have looked on Europe’s management of the euro crisis with barely disguised contempt. In the White House and on Capitol Hill there has been incredulity that Europe’s politicians could be so incompetent at handling an economic problem; so addicted to last-minute, short-term fixes; and so incapable of agreeing on a long-term strategy for the single currency.
Those criticisms were all valid, but now those who made them should take the planks from their own eyes. 

Those familiar with the Talmud, are probably familiar with the Talmudic version of "take the planks from their own eyes" -

"תמהני אם יש בדור הזה שמקבל תוכחה, אם אמר לו: טול קיסם מבין שִניך, אמור לו: טול קורה מבין עיניך" (ערכין טז). 
(There is a similar version of this saying in Baba Batra, 16B.)

Literally - 'I wonder whether there be any in this age that will receive reproof: but if one saith to another, Cast out the mote out of thine eye, he will be ready to answer, Cast out the beam out of thine own eye.'"

Admitting my own ignorance, I had never heard the expression in English. However, a very quick Google search found the following passage from Mathew in the New Testament:

Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye. Mathew 7:5 

Clearly this was a common enough expression in ancient Israel, which found its way both into the New Testament and the Talmud.

SNOWDAY!

Pictures from Jerusalem snowday:

Some of my own pics:

created with my 4 year old daughter!

And one picture to annoy everyone, supposedly taken today on the Temple Mount:

"Tubing" Down The Ayalon River

Sorry, you can't really be an Israeli blogger, and not post something about the downpour during the last few days.

I really liked this video, showing three people going down the Ayalon on big inflatable rubber tubes:

Via: @benjilovitt