Appealing a Masking Fine In Court – Reader’s Detailed Account

A reader writes in:

i think hayehudi readers will like this story and maybe learn something from it too,
I just went to the Bet Mishpat Hashalom, with all the berland fools hanging around waiting outside, maybe ready to kill for his sake again, I was helping a brother
who had a court case for not wearing a covid mask
the whole place was one big cliche
“Banality of Evil” is a good Journalistic description of the Mood
their Judge looked exactly like you expect!
we got in faster because two people had the smae claim, so they did the second one faster.
instead of considering each one in deliberate way like the tora says
he even believed everything my brother told him, but did that matter?
i tried to explain to judge all about kavanat hamchokek. so its impossible that one has to wear a mask every single second
my brother was busy with little kids, helping them ride bikes and at the crossing needs to make sure they don’t barge into the street
covid is dangerous, well so is kids running into the street OK
but the judge, a very personable person just talked and blabbed about
Averat Matzav, which really means Logic and Context out the window.
he told me himself of a jogger who got or was gonna get a ticket for standing at a traffic light, even though sporting activity is really exempt
from masks
why? because he should have jogged in place or raised up his mask
one could argue also rests need heavy breathing, but so what
in fact, the judge basically asked the Prosecutor if she was willing to let go, of course, she said no.
why should she
we pointed out the street was empty apart from the cops so the prosecuting lady said why aren’t police lives important?
except they were coming close to us and leaving the safety of their car!
altho i didn’t think to mention that, i’m sure that it would have made no difference
i started feeling bad for the judge who was just a rubber stamp for the state’s prosecutor
then i realized the slug usually did get to decide things for himself.
so the trial was a waste of time, altho i did get to see Shimon shisha from Toldos Aharon.
he tried to help.
[he helps get good kids out of the giyus to the Zionist entity] it was good to ask to be judged because it delayed the ticket (Update: without increasing the amount) and they ruthfully let us pay tashlumin (Update: without interest), even though my brother had to waste a morning in their goyish courts

hope this helps others.

Maybe Israel Can Ape RUSSIA For a Change??

To be clear, I do not endorse the Russian state’s cruel, bullheaded way of doing things, even when in the right (אכמ”ל).

But Russia’s “reasonable conservative” approach demonstrates it is still possible to be moral today. Hint, hint (כמתוקנים שבהם לא עשיתם כמקולקלים שבהם עשיתם).

An excerpt from a recent speech by Mr. Putin (L’état, c’est moi), via the Kremlin:

We look in amazement at the processes underway in the countries which have been traditionally looked at as the standard-bearers of progress. Of course, the social and cultural shocks that are taking place in the United States and Western Europe are none of our business; we are keeping out of this. Some people in the West believe that an aggressive elimination of entire pages from their own history, “reverse discrimination” against the majority in the interests of a minority, and the demand to give up the traditional notions of mother, father, family and even gender, they believe that all of these are the mileposts on the path towards social renewal.

Listen, I would like to point out once again that they have a right to do this, we are keeping out of this. But we would like to ask them to keep out of our business as well. We have a different viewpoint, at least the overwhelming majority of Russian society – it would be more correct to put it this way – has a different opinion on this matter. We believe that we must rely on our own spiritual values, our historical tradition and the culture of our multiethnic nation.

The advocates of so-called ‘social progress’ believe they are introducing humanity to some kind of a new and better consciousness. Godspeed, hoist the flags as we say, go right ahead. The only thing that I want to say now is that their prescriptions are not new at all. It may come as a surprise to some people, but Russia has been there already. After the 1917 revolution, the Bolsheviks, relying on the dogmas of Marx and Engels, also said that they would change existing ways and customs and not just political and economic ones, but the very notion of human morality and the foundations of a healthy society. The destruction of age-old values, religion and relations between people, up to and including the total rejection of family (we had that, too), encouragement to inform on loved ones – all this was proclaimed progress and, by the way, was widely supported around the world back then and was quite fashionable, same as today. By the way, the Bolsheviks were absolutely intolerant of opinions other than theirs.

This, I believe, should call to mind some of what we are witnessing now. Looking at what is happening in a number of Western countries, we are amazed to see the domestic practices, which we, fortunately, have left, I hope, in the distant past. The fight for equality and against discrimination has turned into aggressive dogmatism bordering on absurdity, when the works of the great authors of the past – such as Shakespeare – are no longer taught at schools or universities, because their ideas are believed to be backward. The classics are declared backward and ignorant of the importance of gender or race. In Hollywood memos are distributed about proper storytelling and how many characters of what colour or gender should be in a movie. This is even worse than the agitprop department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

Countering acts of racism is a necessary and noble cause, but the new ‘cancel culture’ has turned it into ‘reverse discrimination’ that is, reverse racism. The obsessive emphasis on race is further dividing people, when the real fighters for civil rights dreamed precisely about erasing differences and refusing to divide people by skin colour. I specifically asked my colleagues to find the following quote from Martin Luther King: “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by their character.” This is the true value. However, things are turning out differently there. By the way, the absolute majority of Russian people do not think that the colour of a person’s skin or their gender is an important matter. Each of us is a human being. This is what matters.

In a number of Western countries, the debate over men’s and women’s rights has turned into a perfect phantasmagoria. Look, beware of going where the Bolsheviks once planned to go – not only communalising chickens, but also communalising women. One more step and you will be there.

Zealots of these new approaches even go so far as to want to abolish these concepts altogether. Anyone who dares mention that men and women actually exist, which is a biological fact, risk being ostracised. “Parent number one” and “parent number two,” “’birthing parent” instead of “mother,” and “human milk” replacing “breastmilk” because it might upset the people who are unsure about their own gender. I repeat, this is nothing new; in the 1920s, the so-called Soviet Kulturtraegers also invented some newspeak believing they were creating a new consciousness and changing values that way. And, as I have already said, they made such a mess it still makes one shudder at times.

Not to mention some truly monstrous things when children are taught from an early age that a boy can easily become a girl and vice versa. That is, the teachers actually impose on them a choice we all supposedly have. They do so while shutting the parents out of the process and forcing the child to make decisions that can upend their entire life. They do not even bother to consult with child psychologists – is a child at this age even capable of making a decision of this kind? Calling a spade a spade, this verges on a crime against humanity, and it is being done in the name and under the banner of progress.

Well, if someone likes this, let them do it. I have already mentioned that, in shaping our approaches, we will be guided by a healthy conservatism. That was a few years ago, when passions on the international arena were not yet running as high as they are now, although, of course, we can say that clouds were gathering even then. Now, when the world is going through a structural disruption, the importance of reasonable conservatism as the foundation for a political course has skyrocketed – precisely because of the multiplying risks and dangers, and the fragility of the reality around us.

This conservative approach is not about an ignorant traditionalism, a fear of change or a restraining game, much less about withdrawing into our own shell. It is primarily about reliance on a time-tested tradition, the preservation and growth of the population, a realistic assessment of oneself and others, a precise alignment of priorities, a correlation of necessity and possibility, a prudent formulation of goals, and a fundamental rejection of extremism as a method. And frankly, in the impending period of global reconstruction, which may take quite long, with its final design being uncertain, moderate conservatism is the most reasonable line of conduct, as far as I see it. It will inevitably change at some point, but so far, do no harm – the guiding principle in medicine – seems to be the most rational one. Noli nocere, as they say.

Again, for us in Russia, these are not some speculative postulates, but lessons from our difficult and sometimes tragic history. The cost of ill-conceived social experiments is sometimes beyond estimation. Such actions can destroy not only the material, but also the spiritual foundations of human existence, leaving behind moral wreckage where nothing can be built to replace it for a long time.

The rest of the speech is nonsense, of course. See it here…

(Thanks to one of our readers for showing me this.)

Bloomah’s City Farm In Ramat Bet Shemesh

Frum Farm Dreams Can Come True

Naomi Elbinger, Ramat Beit Shemesh

“Jewish girls don’t live on farms.”

When Mum said this to me, there was an undertone of panic in her voice that I wasn’t used to hearing from my easy-going, upbeat mother.

I knew she had nothing against farming, though it was a rather whimsical life-goal for a teenaged girl growing up in a middle-class, largely Jewish suburb of Sydney, Australia. Her real worry was that since there is no Jewish agriculture in Australia, my dream meant closely associating with non-Jews.

She was terrified of where that might lead.

When I moved to Eretz Yisroel as a young adult, I hoped to find a husband with whom I would share a more rural life. But when I brought this up with my teachers in seminary, they warned me about how unrealistic my farm dreams were. Farming is a very hard way to make a living and there are no English-speaking yeshiva guys who want such a lifestyle. Even in Eretz Yisroel, it meant living removed from chadarim and rabbonim and the flow of mainstream frum life.

From both my parents and my teachers I understood that pursuing my farming dreams necessitated compromising my spiritual dreams. Besides that, it was impractical.

I am both spiritual and practical. I got the message.

Soon I met and married my husband, Rabbi Shmuel Yosef Elbinger, who learns in kollel. I have an enterprising nature and I took to the role of primary breadwinner with enthusiasm. Baruch HaShem I was blessed with success in my marketing and web development businesses. I was also zoche to mentor many other entrepreneurs, particularly as a driving force behind the Temech Conference, a huge annual event in Yerushalayim for frum women in business.

Though I accepted the fact that farm life was out of reach, I invested my time in promoting nature education in chadarim and Beis Yaakovs around Eretz Yisroel and that was very rewarding. I dabbled in small-scale homesteading projects. I grew cucumbers and made yogurt. With the flow of years, this grew to encompass keeping egg-laying hens, picking olives for oil, beekeeping, fermenting vegetables and making my own soap.

I was happily busy with my family, my career, and my community work – and yet my farming interests never left me. Instead they only grew.

After we moved into our apartment in Ramat Beit Shemesh four years ago, I took it to the next level, planting 12 fruit trees and building raised beds for 60+ vegetable plants in our small yard.

My goal is not just to grow some food, but to enrich the landscape and develop an ecosystem where native plants, birds and wildlife live in harmony with my family.

Then, about a year-and-a-half ago, I suddenly realized:

I am a farmer.

True, I don’t have rolling acres and a barn. True, I don’t earn my parnassa from it.

I didn’t close my business. I didn’t move to a moshav. I didn’t compromise my spiritual values.

Nevertheless, a farmer I am.

Farming the Land

There is something special about farming in Eretz Yisroel. I have gotten to know some local farmers and they are happy to collaborate with me on projects. They are different from me in lifestyle, but we are all Jews and there is so much that binds us together.

When my backyard farm started to attract attention, I asked Rabbi Doniel Faber, rosh yeshiva of Yeshuos Yisroel in Ramat Beit Shemesh, about whether this measure of “farm fame” was positive for our family. His encouraging answer surprised me.

“So many frum Jews crave a closer connection to nature,” he said. “If they’re from a more open background, they feel they have to stray from their communities to get it. If they’re from a more insular background, they tell themselves ‘This is not for someone like me. There’s no way I can do this.’ That’s also unhealthy. So your message is essential. And when you are doing something for Klal Yisroel you can never have a nezek (harm).”

With that encouragement, I began to run tours and workshops in my backyard, which I call “Bloomah’s City Farm.” (Bloomah is my other name.)

This year I also founded a women’s community farm here in Ramat Beit Shemesh, where women who don’t have gardens come together to plant, nurture and harvest vegetables, to be mekayem the mitzvos ha’teluyos b’aretz and generally have lots of healthy outdoor fun.

Now I am preparing for shmitta, which starts this coming Rosh Hashana (5782). Friends asked if they can purchase a slice of our farm so that they can have a stake in the mitzvah. We agreed to sell it to them for eighteen shekels!

It won’t be easy to cease work in my backyard. At least five times a day I gravitate out there to train a vine or pull a weed or pick a fruit. I love living off my farm. I try never to eat a meal that doesn’t include something I grew myself.

It will be so hard to let it all go to ruin!

I hope I will be able to keep in mind that this is my special zechus. There is no more intimate way to connect to the Land than to touch it with your own hands, to learn its language and cooperate with the forces of Creation to grow something beautiful.

The inspiration it gives me goes hand-in-hand with trusting the imperative to stop for a year.

But for now I am enjoying summer’s bounty.

My mother loves to see all the things we grow and hear about our adventures. She gets nachas from seeing my kids’ enthusiasm for it.

Neither of us would have imagined this back in Sydney but…

Jewish girls do live on farms … in the middle of a beautiful frum community in a rapidly growing city in Eretz Yisroel.

Hold On, Don’t I Know Your Name from Somewhere?

When I talk excitedly about urban farming, sometimes people get confused because they know Naomi Elbinger as the author of the Torah novel Yedidya (co-authored with Rabbi Daniel Yaakov Travis).

Yedidya is a profound exploration of emunah concepts embedded in a page-turning novel about a yeshiva bochur. It has nothing to do with farming!

To clarify, I am an author as well as an entrepreneur, farmer and kollel wife. There are several reasons why I’ve never regretted following the advice of my parents and teachers to pursue a mainstream lifestyle and career. One of them is that this gave me the skills and opportunity to write Yedidya, which has taken off in such a big way, inspiring and helping Jews around the world!

You can start reading Yedidya free here

Propaganda Works Better on the Formally Educated – Noam Chomsky Explains Why

There are good studies of this that show, with only the most marginal statistical error, that among the more educated parts of the population the government propaganda system was accepted unquestioningly. On the other hand, after a long period of popular spontaneous opposition, dissent and organization, the general population got out of control. As recently as 1982, according to the latest polls I’ve seen, over 70 percent of the population still was saying that the war was, quoting the wording of the Gallup poll, “fundamentally wrong and immoral,” not “a mistake.” That is, the overwhelming majority of the population is neither hawks nor doves, but opposed to aggression. On the other hand, the educated part of the population, they’re in line. For them, it’s just the tactical question of hawk vs. dove.

This is, incidentally, not untypical. Propaganda very often works better for the educated than it does for the uneducated. This is true on many issues. There are a lot of reasons for this, one being that the educated receive more of the propaganda because they read more. Another thing is that they are the agents of propaganda. After all, their job is that of commissars; they’re supposed to be the agents of the propaganda system so they believe it. It’s very hard to say something unless you believe it. Other reasons are that, by and large, they are just part of the privileged elite so they share their interests and perceptions, whereas the general population is more marginalized. It, by and large, doesn’t participate in the democratic system, which is overwhelmingly an elite game. People learn from their own lives to be skeptical, and in fact most of them are. There’s a lot of skepticism and dissent and so on.

Source and additional context here.