Tuesday, July 25, 2023
Showering During the Nine Days
https://www.ohr.edu/this_week/insights_into_halacha/5228
This ‘Shower Exclusion’ during the Nine Days for hygienic purposes is ruled decisively by the vast majority of contemporary authorities including Rav Yosef Chaim Zonnenfeld zt”l, Rav Yechiel Michel Tukachinsky zt”l, Rav Moshe Feinstein zt”l, Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach zt”l, Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky zt”l, the Klausenberger Rebbe zt”l, Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv zt”l, Rav Shmuel Halevi Wosner zt”l, Rav Ben Tzion Abba Shaul zt”l, Rav Ovadiah Yosef zt”l, Rav Mordechai Eliyahu zt”l, Rav Yisrael Halevi Belsky zt”l, Rav Efraim Greenblatt zt”l, the Sha’arim Metzuyanim B’Halachah, and Rav Moshe Sternbuch.[16]
Likud minister demands Attorney General investigate Ehud Barak
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/374649
Regev explained, "In the aforementioned video clip, former Prime Minister Ehud Barak was recorded detailing his plan in a Zoom conversation with a group of protest activists." She added that the plan included "inciting civil disobedience in an intentional fashion, falsely presenting a danger to democracy with funding and investments totaling millions of shekels, leading to the point of no return - a civil war - as he begs them to create clashes with the police, saying, 'The more clashes there are with the police, the more it will grow stronger.'"
For a Solution to Israel's Turmoil, Go Back to the Beginning
https://www.newsweek.com/solution-israels-turmoil-go-back-beginning-opinion-1814995
Indeed, it seems clear that no one has a long-term solution to this problem—and if this government falls, the next one can pass legislation overturning this new law, since the Knesset can change both how its Supreme Court Justices are selected and what matters the court can adjudicate at any time.
The answer to all this is in front of us: Israel needs a written constitution that cannot be changed by the Knesset.
Golden Calf reason for having children
Zohar (1 61a )If Israel had not sinned by making the golden calf, they would not have borne children and no new generations would have come into the world” R. Abba replied: ‘If Adam had not sinned, he would not have begotten children from the side of the evil inclination, but he would have borne offspring from the side of the holy spirit. But now, since all the children of men are born from the side of the evil inclination, they have no permanence and are but short-lived, because there is in them an element of the “other side”. But if Adam had not sinned and had not been driven from the Garden of Eden, he would have begotten progeny from the side of the holy spirit-a progeny holy as the celestial angels, who would have endured to eternity, after the supernal pattern. Since, however, he sinned and begat children outside the Garden of Eden, these did not take root, even in this world, until Noah arose, who was a righteous man and entered the ark, so that from the ark there went forth all the future generations of mankind, who spread thence into the four quarters of the earth.’
Gantz: Everything approved today will be canceled and erased from the statute book
In a statement to the media, Benny Gantz says extremists have won and the State of Israel has lost in today’s vote.
“A majority in the Knesset that wants agreements was defeated by extreme MKs who decided to change our identity, who want to take us to an abyss of hatred, to divide us, and to turn us against each other.”
“Those who think they won today will soon find this was a grave mistake for us all,” he says.
Olmert to British TV: We are going into a civil war now - nonsense!
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/374625
Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert claimed on Monday that the country faces civil war following the approval in the Knesset of the bill reducing the use of the reasonableness standard.
“There is a threat. It is a serious threat. It’s never happened before, and we are going into a civil war now,” Olmert said in an interview with Britain’s Channel 4.
The Steep Cost of Ron DeSantis’ Vaccine Turnabout
https://news.yahoo.com/steep-cost-ron-desantis-vaccine-142915131.html
But in Florida, unlike the nation as a whole — and states like New York and California that DeSantis likes to single out — most people who died from COVID died after vaccines became available to all adults, not before. As the governor’s political positions began to shift, so did his state’s death rate, for the worse.
What is the judicial reform and why is it controversial?
Proponents say the current "reasonability" standard gives judges excessive powers over decision-making by elected officials. But critics say that removing the standard, which is invoked only in rare cases, would allow the government to pass arbitrary decisions, make improper appointments or firings, and open the door to corruption.
Protesters say Netanyahu and his allies want to change the law so they can appoint cronies to government posts – and particularly so that they can fire the country's independent attorney general, according to Amir Fuchs, a senior researcher at the Israel Democracy Institute, a Jerusalem think tank. Supporters see Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara as a bulwark against the overhaul. The measures "make it more difficult to conduct oversight" over arbitrary decisions of elected officials, said Yohanan Plesner, the institute's president. "This is one chapter of a broader plan and program of the government to weaken the checks and balances."
With a relatively weak system of checks and balances, the judiciary plays a large role in checking executive power in Israel. In the US for example, Congress has two houses that operate independently of the president and can limit his power. But in Israel, the prime minister and his majority coalition in parliament work in tandem.
Monday, July 24, 2023
Israel’s constitutional chaos is far from over
It is a tussle over when judges can overrule the government
Israeli lawmakers approve key part of judicial overhaul amid massive protests
Movement for Quality Government, a nonprofit organization, already announced it would challenge the law in the Supreme Court.
The group said in a statement that the measure is “unconstitutional” because it “fundamentally changes the basic structure of Israeli parliamentary democracy and the nature of the regime, while de facto abolishing the judiciary and seriously damaging the delicate fabric of the separation of powers and the system of checks and balances in the State of Israel.”
Former NSC chiefs: Calls for US to stop aid ‘irresponsible,’ ‘damaging’
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-752271
Amidror said that the argument made in Tablet is “very wrong.”
“A strong Israel can make its own decisions, and when Israel is not strong it cannot make decisions,” he said.
Nagel said that the idea that the US uses aid as leverage to pressure Israel is “total nonsense.”
In negotiations ahead of the last MOU between Israel and the US, Nagel recounted, “I said that ‘if you’re conditioning this aid, I don’t want it.’ The only condition is that we give them a list of what we’re buying so they can authorize it once a year. They have control over what we buy.”
“We seek America’s advice on almost everything because they are important to us, not just because we get aid from them,” he said. “They support us in a million other ways, in the UN, in Congress, in the world. They’re our main ally.”
Israel Protests Explained—Why Millions Fear Nation Is Becoming Dictatorship
https://www.newsweek.com/israel-protests-explained-netanyahu-1814850
The Israeli economy, the IDF, Israeli society—they have all been targeted for direct attack by a dangerous prime minister and a sick coalition," protest organizers said, according to Haaretz. "But Israel will not become a dictatorship. We, Israeli citizens, will give our lives to save the country, and we will win. In the coming days and months, we will all be called to the flag, and we will report for duty.
The Israeli government and the bill's supporters say the legislation is overdue although the plans go further than many would like. The bill proposes stripping the Supreme Court's ability to overrule the government or ministerial decisions it deems to be "unreasonable."
White House calls judicial reform law's passage 'unfortunate', calls for 'consensus'
https://www.ynetnews.com/article/s111a4mhq3
"It is unfortunate that the vote today took place with the slimmest possible majority,” said a statement from White House spokeswoman Karin Jean-Pierre. “We believe that for major democratic changes, you need to work for consensus. We urge Israeli leaders to work toward a consensus-based approach through political dialogue.”
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