The winter of 5783 is the driest winter in the past fifty years. This is reported by the Meteorological Authority and the Water authority. Their estimate applies to the amount of rainfall in Israel since the beginning of the winter which equals only 57% of the average annual figure.

Israel is now entering the second half of its rainy season, preceding an amount of rainfall which was small and short, after four years of rain which surpassed the average figure. This is testified by data accumulated by the Meteorological Authority proving that this was a year of relative drought, primarily in the northern part of the country.

MK Rabbi Gafni presented a proposal requiring proportional chareidi representation in the various government bodies, a similar bill which was passed in the past. This new proposal attempts to determine that the representation be proportional to the amount of chareidim in the general population.

According to the estimation of the Central Bureau of Statistics, the chareidi sector in Israel is some 600,000 people. Other research bodies estimate the figure to be over one million. However, despite this relatively high figure in the overall population, the actual number of chareidi employees in governmental positions is much lower.

The Rightist camp is all but helpless against the wild incitement and the malicious propaganda directed against the government regarding the proposed reform in the judicial system. For many years, the media succeeded in praising and promoting this system, as if it were the be-all and end-all of everything. This is because it served the Leftist agenda in enabling the Leftist camp to rule the country, even when the Right was in power.

The decay, the putrefaction, corruption, pig-headedness and all the other ills of the judicial system were concealed and camouflaged since this served the agenda of those of the Leftist camp which thinks of itself as representing the 'enlightened man' and not the Rightist 'rabble.'

This extended historical series about the battles over the rabbinate in Vilna was originally published in 1995 (5755).

Chapter Three

In the first part we read about the background of Vilna, the Yerushalayim of Lithuania, and its rabbonus. We saw that the real position of Chief Rabbi of Vilna was left unfilled for more than a hundred years, out of respect, until the secular authorities insisted on the appointment of a rav to administer the registration of demographic information such as births, deaths and weddings. The community was required to appoint such a "rav meitaam," and the choice came down to a test of strength between the traditional side lead by HaRav Chaim Ozer and the reformers and maskilim. Before his election, Rav Rubinstein, a former yeshiva student, promised Reb Chaim Ozer that he would stay clear of any involvement in Vilna's communal institutions. In return he was backed by Reb Chaim Ozer and elected. However, he did not keep his promise and during World War I when Reb Chaim Ozer was not in Vilna, Rabbi Rubinstein took over many community institutions.

Electing The Rav