Oil spots, garbage dumping, divorce.

071811

Two stories just screamed at me from the Israeli press this morning.  Perhaps I should say, they made me feel like screaming

It wasn't that the German government is apparently willing to subsidize a sixth Dolphin class nuclear missile capable submarine.  Two were delivered a decade ago.  Two are still under construction.  The navy says it doesn't NEED a sixth submarine, but Ehud Barak knows better.

It wasn't that the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Mullen, is visiting Israel for the last time in that capacity, or that several Republican congressmen are planning a visit to Yehudah and Shomron communities.  Peaceful visitors are all welcome.

It was the war of attrition being waged with oil and garbage.

Outside of Ofra, "someone" seems to have gotten the idea of oiling the road on a descent.  The way it was put, "the accidents that do not fail to happen are reported in the local paper, and nowhere else."  Brilliant!  One teenager with a pint of used motor oil on a dark night can make a road impassable for days, until it is cleaned, and then he can do it again the next night!  

Oil spots on the road

Apparently, the Temple Mount is not the only place for which some people have no respect.  No, history is not alone, nature is also on their "who cares?" list.

The Waqf dug out huge quantities of of archaeologically sensitive material, no permit, no notice, from under the Dome of the Rock, and dumped it in a ravine.  Remember that, it speaks to pattern.  If you are a fan of The Naked Archaeologist, you know that it took a prominent Israeli scholar, Gabi Barkai, five years to get permission to examine the contents of the midden.   

More recently, "someone" has been dumping toxic garbage in nature areas.  Ah, for America, where they are just growing marijuana in the National Parks!  

Garbage dumping, not a huge problem?  But it's such a simple, easy, cheap way to make an area unsafe, unhealthy, unpleasant, and once the Jews leave because the government doesn't clean it up or punish the culprits, guess who moves in?  

Simultaneously, the government is legalizing bedouin encroachment in the Negev.

Oil spots, indiscriminate excavation, indiscriminate dumping, "settling" (squatting) all over the place.  Anyone else see a pattern?

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071911

Two horrible rabbi stories recently.  All you see on the crawl is two horrible rabbi stories.  But they're so different, if you just know a few details.  Both are divorce stories.

In one, the rabbi of a prominent New York orthodox synogogue is in the middle of what appears to be a nasty divorce.  His wife has revealed that the man has been consorting with prostitutes.  On Shabbat.  Ewww.

In the other, a rabbi and his wife apparently kidnapped and threatened a man with bodily harm because he was holding his wife captive, an Aguna, "chained" woman, a so-called grass widow.  They were attempting to get him to agree to allow her to remarry.

This ought to have been solved long ago, and in fact it was, but modern batei din (Jewish courts) are reticent to apply any pressure to some guy who wants this sort of revenge on his ex-wife.  One guy sat in an Israeli jail for years.  He was happy as a clam:  plenty of exercise, plenty of sleep, three squares a day, unlimitted time to study.  Ultraorthodox heaven.  That he was destroying his wife and children's lives didn't seem to bother him.

But anyway, two rabbis in the news.  Both sound horrible on the crawl. They're NOT both "bad rabbi" stories, though.