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Knesset Finance Committee Chairman Rabbi Yaakov Litzman of
UTJ finally agreed to convene the committee on Tuesday
morning to discuss the 2002 state budget, after he received a
pledge that all of the promised money would be included in
the budget, including NIS 40 million that will be allocated
to yeshivas from the budget reserves. The Ministry of Finance
struggled all the way to keep out whatever it could, using
the time pressure twice to avoid including all the promised
funds. Monday's Violence: 4 Bombs, 9 Shootings, 1 Rocket Attack, 5
(Terrorists) Killed Five Palestinians were killed Monday morning when their car
exploded in Gaza and went up in flames. Israel did not
acknowledge responsibility and there remains the possibility
that they died in a "work accident" preparing a bomb. In some
press reports they were called "activists" but it was
universally reported that all had been involved in violence
against Israeli soldiers and civilians, and all were
identified as members of terrorist organizations including
the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP),
Hamas and Fatah. Lithuania handed over 309 sifrei Torah and megillot
to Israel in a ceremony that closed the book on a sad
chapter. The collection of scrolls -- some more than 200
years old and all in various states of disrepair -- were part
of German loot confiscated from the Jewish community of
Lithuania during the Holocaust, which lay in a church in
Vilna for over 50 years. As the Pesach season approaches, we have received several
inquiries for individuals and hotels who are concerned, as
the gedolei haposkim recommended, about the presence
of even small amounts of spices that were produced under an
enhanced "hetter mechirah".
Israeli Rabbis Convert Dozens of "Inca Jews" Four Israeli rabbis flew to Peru in mid- November and
"converted" about half of 150 Peruvians popularly known as
"Inca Jews."
Rabbi Eli Ben Dahan, director of Israel's Rabbinical Courts,
told The Jerusalem Report that the delegation was sent
because there is no rabbinical court--the only institution
authorized to perform Orthodox conversions--in Peru. Israel has $13 Billion Kosher Food Market Israel's market for kosher food is over $13 billion, with
imports accounting for about $2 billion, according to a
report by the Foreign Agriculture Service of the U.S.
Department of Agriculture (USDA). The USDA report noted that
the U.S. holds about 30 percent of the import share, with a
variety of value-added processed food products from the U.S.
increasing their sales.
In Sunday's New York Times there was a piece signed by
Yasser Arafat (though it hardly reflected his usual style of
speech) that insisted that the Palestinians are ready to end
the conflict, to sit down with any Israeli leader and to
fight Israeli military power with the power of justice. Observations: Mining for Cell-Phones by A. Yechiel It comes as no secret that a cell-phone can threaten one's
peace and quiet, but now a new twist is coming our way: cell-
phones threaten the survival of the African mountain
gorilla!
Hard Sell, Soft Cell
Sutton was sitting at his desk in his office with his feet
up, smoking an expensive cigar. A complacent smile hovered
over his lips as he exhaled rings of strongly scented smoke.
The ringing phone interrupted his reverie. IN-DEPTH FEATURES The Gaon: The Publication Of A Major New Work |
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