Tzedek-Tzedek

"How's business?" I asked a shop-keeper friend of mine. My friend explained that his store has been impacted by a host of individuals who have set up competing businesses. "A guy came into the shop recently," he explained,"and asked me who supplies us with a particular product? I gladly gave him the contact information. "Lo and behold, I hear that this guy has got together a group of my customers, and they are now buying this product together, and missing out me, the retailer." These businesses are run out of private homes; they generally do not have business permits, nor pay taxes, nor require staff, auditors, lawyers... zero overheads. "It's just not fair," my friend continued. "We have even had to lay staff off – that's local people, with families to support." So, are these individuals unfairly competing with the retailers, or are they budding entrepreneurs – tomorrow's Marks & Spencers? The...

I started this blog, Tzedek-Tzedek, (from the biblical injunction "Justice, Justice Thou Shalt Pursue...!") as an experiment, with the objective of increasing awareness of social justice issues, particularly regarding abuse, and with a focus on my own community in Bet Shemesh/RBS. Now a year later, is a moment for cheshbon nefesh  (evaluation). Statistics : According to "sitemeter" - Tzedek-Tzedek has attracted over 25,000 visitors during the year, an average of about 2000 a month, 500 a week. These visitors have read over 40,000 pages (a little less than 2 pages each visit). Achievements:  In the field of abuse, Education & Awareness equals Better Protection for Victims. I believe that the target readership (mainly Jewish, mainly in Israel, mainly in Bet Shemesh/Ramat Bet Shemesh)  have learned significant information about the issues of abuse and social justice. Furthermore, various experts from around the world have contributed important articles to t...

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Two thousand years after Destruction of the Second Temple , and 2600 years after the destruction of the First Temple , and now returned to the Land of our Fathers, our generation inevitably struggles to feel the tragic loss of the Mikdash, even on Tisha B’Av. No-one understands the workings of Hashem’s plans. There is no avoiding the fact that, even since the chorban/destruction, the period around 9 th Av is particularly tragic for the Jewish people. The timing of our tragedies, during Av, sharpens our otherwise-dulled sensitivity to the true source of grief on Tisha B’Av. ----------- In my lifetime, I have felt no more miserable Tisha B’Av than five years ago, during the destruction and eviction from Gush Katif. The year-and-a-half I had devoted, with so many thousands, to stopping the Disengagement, turned to deep grief at the moment of our failure, on Erev Tisha B’Av, and at the resulting scale of human suffering and political/military catastrophe. The weeping girls, si...

  [Part One] I have just returned from a business trip to the USA. While there,  I picked up on two angles on campaigns in the USA for justice against child abuse enablers. One is Catholic (big time campaign) and the other is Jewish (small time campaign). The word “enabler”, by the way, is used to describe people who provide a conducive environment for pedophiles to operate. It’s a secondary act, rather than the direct act of abuse against the child. Some types of "enabling" are illegal in the USA and in Israel , such as failure to report child abuse, when this reporting is required/mandated by law; or where the enablers interfere with the course of justice. ------ An American Catholic friend of mine told me that the number one issue in the Catholic Church today is the church’s mishandling of child abuse cases. You have surely hear about the Catholic campaign, which is targeting both Catholic clergy who have abusing children, and the secondary enablers, being the ch...

By Rabbi Dov Lipman CITY COUNCIL VOTES ON PLOT 420, RESIDENTS GO TO COURT The city council voted this week to remove plot 420 from the hands of a yeshivat hesder and another dati yeshiva to use for caravans for chareidi chadarim.  The heated meeting ended with a 10-7 vote in favor's of the Mayor's plan.  The residents of Nofei Hashemesh, Nofei Aviv, and Sheinfeld who view this as a step towards transferring the adjacent Orot campus to chareidi schools have begun the process of fighting the Mayor's decision in court.   The Mayor explained that since neither of those two yeshivot have taken steps towards construction, there is no reason not to use this land for these caravans. FIRES CONTINUE  The terrible fires in the area continued this week with a major fire near Moshav Sdot Micha on Tuesday.  Close to 3,000 dunam of land were destroyed by the fire, Moshav Sdot Micha and Tirosh had to be evacuated, 7 airplanes had to be used to contain the...

By Shmuel Sacket (courtesy of Aryeh Sonnenberg) [Background: Moshe Feiglin's 16 year old son David was very seriously injured in a car crash this week. David has been in a coma since; he has now started to move slightly. Shmuel Sacket, Moshe's co-founder of Manhigut Hayehudit, wrote this update story - which I found moving & powerful. Please daven for the refuah shelaima of Dovid Yosef ben Faiga Perel]. This morning I picked Moshe up at 5AM and we went to the Kotel to dovin. Immediately afterwards we immersed in the Breslov mikvah (in the Moslem quarter of the Old City) and then ascended Har Ha’Bayit (The Temple Mount). A very interesting thing happened just before we went up to Har Ha’Bayit. Yesterday, I emailed Rabbi Nachman Kahane (brother of Rabbi Meir Kahane) and asked him to meet us before we go up to the Har so that he can give Moshe a bracha. I must point out that Rabbi Nachman Kahane is a rare “kohen me’yu’chas” which means he can trace his families line di...