Railway to Chelm

Back in May, then Minister of Transportation, Yisrael Katz came out with the following quote.

'When I work in my current position as Minister of Transportation around Israel to build roads, ports, airports, and train tracks, I know that this is the real victory over what the Nazis tried to do. Each new rail line is the answer to those train lines that transported helpless and hopeless Jews to their deaths..'

I was among many who made the same joke. If the Israeli Authorities were in charge of transportation in Nazi Germany, the death tolls would probably have been significantly lower. Anyone who has ever taken the train or knows someone who has taken the train, is probably aware of bizarre decisions made by Israel Rail. Of course the hypocritical fight over railway maintenance was a big issue a number of years ago. I never dreamed that their level of incompetence could inconvenience my entire community.

The train tracks mark the border between Kiryat Motzkin and Kiryat Shmuel. There is only one pedestrian crossing point. This crossing point is used by many within the community during the week to facilitate ease of kids getting to school, people going to work, getting to shul during the week and on Shabbat and especially for those wanting to get from Kiryat Motzkin to the beach in Kiryat Yam. Given Kiryat Shmuel closes its roads for Shabbat and holidays, this crossing is essential for those needing to get non-emergent medical care as well. Channah uses the crossing to get to school and to get to the bus for after school activities. We, as a family, all use the crossing to get to shul.

The crossing is located just north of the train station. Due to outdated technology the crossing lights and barrier are activated before the northbound trains even pull into the station. This results in unnecessarily long waiting times and impatient people crossing before the train arrives at the crossing. About a year ago, instructions to be me more careful were painted on the ground approaching the crossing. For some reason it didn't seem to change the situation. 

Last week it was announced in the local news that the pedestrian crossing would be closing. The train station could be used instead of the crossing. A 'high tech' solution would be implemented to allow crossing during the hours that the train station was closed. Confusion around the logistics of the change as well as anger at the inconvenience of the move, were of great concern.

It turned out that Israel Railway is in the process of closing all of their pedestrian crossings. The sudden push to the top of the priority list was caused by a 16 year old, with head phones that was almost hit by a train.

As of today the new system is now in place. The crossing is closed by a gate on each side of the tracks.  The gate is locked with a padlock.  A security guard is stationed in front of each of the padlocked gates. There is a ticket machine located outside the train station. (The machine ran out of tickets today) People have to go through a security check. The ticket allows them access to the platform for 15 minutes, where the stairs are located to cross to the other side.  As the train is located in the opposite direction of school and requires going through morning rush hour security, Channah estimates that it adds another 8 to 10 minutes on her trip to school. Another minute or two on the way home as the train entrance from Kiryat Motzkin is at the opposite end of the station. 

I understand the motivation for eliminating the need to for pedestrians to cross the train tracks. There is no reason why they couldn't have come up with a practical solution to achieving the goal. 

The Election Conundrum

Israel will once again go to the polls next Tuesday in National Elections. I am finding my Facebook feed filled with friends trying to decide how to choose from the 26 party lists that are running this time around. This is my 3rd National Election since moving here and the first time I find myself in the same boat as my friends.

I have always taken politics very seriously from enjoying political satire as a kid to taking Political Science courses as my electives in University. In first year University I wrote a paper on the importance election spending limits and ended up writing a paper on how they favour the incumbent. I proctored in the last Ontario election before I made Aliyah and signed the nomination papers of someone who went on to become an MP. I used to read sections transcripts from question period, so that I could have a better understanding of some of the stories in the news. In the last couple of years, that intense focus on politics has fallen to the wayside and I am not as informed as I feel I should be on many of the important issues. This choosing how to cast my ballot even more difficult.

Standard political theory is that most people have political leanings somewhere towards the centre. Political parties try to focus their elections on appealing to the 'mushy middle' where the largest voter base is located. This makes the differences in political party platforms to be on relatively minor issues leading to stable Government policy.  Most voters don't see a huge difference in their everydays lives which is the reason why I personally believe there is so much voter apathy in Western Democratic Countries.

Under the broken Israeli system the focus is on sectorial parties that only cater to a very limited demographic. This leads to short sighted government policy designed to benefit individualized groups instead of what is best for the country. It is no wonder that the Government will pass laws to target an individual person.

The Conundrum:

Likud -- מחל
Bibi is an incredibly skilled politician with incredible survival instincts. He is capable of putting together a coalition to keep himself in power not matter what is needed to make it work. It is likely he will spend his time undoing the legislation that he passed in the current Government. He called an election calling for electoral reform aimed at at two party system. I think the American two party system is a terrible roll model. I also don't think he should be rewarded for calling an unneccesary election.

Zionist Union -- אמת
Tzipi Livni is the slimiest self serving politician in Israel. Her negotiating skills have proven to be a failure time and time again.  The merger of Labor and Hatnua is underscores what is wrong with the electoral system.  Splitting the Premiership gaurtenees more short sightedness in Government policy. The last time Livni took over from the Prime Minister as Party leader, she was not able to negotiate a coalition and we were forced to go to the polls.

Yisrael Beiteinu -- ל
Upon arriving in Israel I got involved in the party. A friend I trust for their political views got me involved. Through those connections, I met two other people who I have also come to trust for their political insight. Of the group of three my friend recently left the party. I assume it was for personal reasons. Another took a job where alignment with a political party would be a conflict of interest. The 3rd is running on their ticket. I met Former Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister, Danny Ayalon who I have a lot of respect for in his roll as MK. He was dumped by the party before the last election. I also met Yair Shamir before the last election who really captured the mindset of what a politician should be focusing on. He has quit the party. In my mind something may be wrong in the party which is making me second guess voting for them a 3rd time.

Bayit Yehudi -- טב
My problem with them in the past is there identification as Zionist Religous Party. To me it represented the sectorial politics that is ruining the political system. This time around they have been buidling themselves up as a mainstream party with candidates outside of core support of their party. It may have allienated some of their more loyal supporters but it has caught my attention as possible voting option.

Yesh Atid -- פה
Dov Lipman is a local hero or villain depending on religious affiliation. I have just always felt that I couldn't relate to the party. From there projection of middle class as people able to only buy 2 apartments for their 3 children and unable to travel outside the country every single year, left me feeling allienated from the party. Wouldn't creating a formal market for rental housing be more effective for young families than offering a tax break if they are able to put the money together to buy an apartment?  Yesh Atid is also responsible for the end of the country wide water floridization program. I am in favour of making the draft law equal for all citizens. Yesh Atid went hard after the Haredi communtiy and came up with 'Much Ado About Nothing' legistlation with such a long implementation period that it will probably be overturned before it even goes into effect. The details of the law could leave things status quo even if it is not over turned.

Kulanu -- כ
I don't know much about Moshe Kahlon. I am not a fan of forming new political parties just before elections, especially with the intent of landing a specific ministirial job. They do have a vote sharing agreement with Yisrael Beiteinu. 

UTJ -- ג
I can't stand the Daas Torah approach to politics. UTJ demonstrated how much they only care about their narrow demographics, crying descrimination for not being included Government.

Shas -- שס
It is always a problem for a political party when they lose a charismatic leader who essentiallly is the party. Keeping Rav Ovadia alive is not a solution. I think people will see through the anti-poverty campaign as Shas has a terrible record in this area. Unless you are one of the people who consider Aryeh Deri a hero, for the rest his background would end most politcal careers.

Meretz -- מרצ
Aside from being the opposite of everything I believe in they tried to sign a vote sharing agreement with the United Arab List.

United Arab List -- ודעם
They include Balad with MK Zoabi. 

Yachad -- קץ
I feel bad for how Eli Yishai has been treated by Shas. Kudos to him for walking out on the party to try to make it on his own. I think this is going to turn into just another Haredi Party despite the fact they are claiming to reach into the DTL community as well. I was not a fan of Yishai when he was Interior Minister.

Pirates -- ף
Who doesn't like pirates?

Greens Don't Give A Fuck -- רק
Formerly known as the Green Party. I don't think the name change is going to make a difference.
 
Green Leaf Party -- קנ
If you want to vote for marijuana this is the party for you. 

U'Bizchutan -- נז
I love the idea of a female haredi party of breaking through the glass ceiling of haredi politics. Wishful thinking would have this leave to a break out of some of the extremism of the haredi community.  The little I have heard of their policies are just as limited in scope as the other haredi parties.

Kulanu Chaverim Na Nach -- ףץ
If the Breslov Party gets elected they would be the happiest most enthusiastic party in the Knesset. Plus you get to vote for a putz.

The parties I don't know enough about to comment:
Social Leadership -- יז
Protecting Our Children - Stop Feeding Them Porn -- יך
Flower -- נץ
Arab List -- ע
Economy Party -- ז
Or -- ני
Selected People -- זץ
Renters with Dignity -- י
Hope for Change -- יץ
Supporters of Democracy -- זך

With 26 parties to choose from I think I am leaning towards Bayit Yehudi with the slim possibility of returning to Yisrael Beiteinu. I consider Pirates as my go to protest vote but I don't see that happening. There is still plenty of time and I am willing to consider other voting options.

Polling Daas Torah Style

Tonight I received my first phone call to make sure I was voting for the right candidate in the election. I was in the mood for toying but not arguing. I didn't have the creative juices flowing, so the conversation went something like this.

Caller: I am sure that you have seen the signs around the neighbourhood that one has to vote for Chen. Your Rav signed it.
Me: Yes.
Caller: How many voters are there?
Me: One (The answered seem to have thrown him)
Caller: So I can put you down for voting Chen?
Me: No.
Caller: You are going to be voting for Abutbol?
Me: No.
Caller: You know that Abutbol supports the Yeshivas and the other guys don't?
Me: That's nice.

Some back and forth where he said that Abutbol supports the Yeshivas and I basically said I am well aware of what Abutbol does.

Caller: Do you know who Chaim Kanievsky is?
Me: Yes.
Caller: He would want you to vote for Abutbol.

He basically took that track that in 120 years, if I Abutbol, Kanievsky would be there to greet me as I would have earned Olam HaBa, if not ......

He didn't ask me how I was going to vote or what my concerns might be. Anyone who thinks that election is that simple, there isn't really anything to discuss.

Right now my vote for Mayor is firmly with Eli Cohen.
My vote for City Council is strongly leaning towards Tov.

Coalition Pollytics

I was reminded tonight of a story that happened in December.  Rachel was really good at coming up with ways to use Channah's toys as a teaching tool.  One Yom Kippor night Rachel came up with the idea, that I would have Channah use her Playombil to reenact the Yom Kippor Avodah in the Beit HaMikdash.  This was when she had a limited collection and it took a lot of imagination to come up with everything we needed. She really enjoyed it and for a while wanted to do the same thing for every Parsha. 

Explaining this whole Government concept has been a challenge for her.  She can understand that their is a Mayor or Prime Minister in charge.  She has a harder time understanding that there are other pieces in place.  She had seen election signs around the neighbourhood and heard us talking about it. On election day we were in Bnei Brak and we saw the Shas and Gimmel trucks driving around, with loud music.

Rachel decided to sit down and explain to Channah how elections work using Polly Pockets. As a result Channah calls it 'Polly' tics. 

The conversation ended up going in a slightly different direction then she had planned.  In the end she ended up explaining how a coalition is formed.

It went something like this.  This represents the biggest party.  We will call him Bibi. His party is the biggest, so he gets to be Rosh Memshalah (Prime Minister).  However is party isn't big enough to form the Government.  Let's say his party likes dogs. 

So he goes over to another party that likes cats. They agree that they can be in the Government together. However, their party is still not quite big enough.

This is Tzipi Livni, nobody likes her. Her party is small but she thinks she should be Rosh Memshalah anyways.

So they join with a 3rd party that doesn't like dogs or cats. However they are in favour of giving everyone named Channah 1000 NIS a month.  So the 3 parties get together and decided that their Government is going to help Kangaroos. They won't help Cats or Dogs and they will not give everyone named Channah any extra money.  Now Bibi can be the Prime Minister and he has his Government.

Toronto Rally

Date:	Sunday, January 18, 2009
Time:	1:00pm - 4:00pm
Location:	Dundas Square
Street:	Yonge and Dundas
City/Town:	Toronto, ON

Bring Your Israeli Flags. Flags and posters will be handed out at the rally. The students of Hasbara Fellowships, Hillel of Greater Toronto and The Canadian Centre for Israel Activism present Toronto for Israel A student led rally that is expected to attract both student and community members in support of Israel. The rally will demostrate solidarity with the people of Israel who have endured over 10 000 Hamas terrorist missiles and mortar shells from Gaza for nearly nine years. Torontonians will send a clear and unequivocal anti-terrorism message as Israel continues to defend close to a million residents of southern Israel who have been targeted by Hamas missiles. The rally is organized by a cross section of univeristy and college students across the GTA through Hasbara Fellowships, Hillel of Greater Toronto and the Canadian Centre for Israel Activism, all representing Jewish and Zioinist students on campus. The rally is supported by larger Jewish community represented by B'nai Brith Canada and UJA Federation of Toronto Other sponsors: Stand With Us, Magen Boys Supporters: AEPi International, Birthright Alumni Community, Bayview Glen Day Camp, Beth Israel Synagogue of Edmonton, Camp Biluim, Camp Hatikva, Camp Moshava, Camp Northland, Camp Shalom, Camp Wohanowin, Canadian Council for Israel and Jewish Advocacy, Canadian Jewish Congress, Edmonton Jewish Community Centre, Evangelical Christian Church of Canada, Delta Pi, First Filipino Baptist Church, Hasbara@York, Hagshama, Jewish Federation of Edmonton, Magen Boys, McMaster Israel on Campus, Orthodox Union - Israel, StandWithUs, St. Joseph Worker Churches, Queens Israel on Campus, Young Judea Aleph Bet Judaica, Bistro Grande, Cafe Sheli, Dairy Treats, Golden Chopsticks, Grodzinskys, Hartmans, Israels, Kiva's, Kosher Second Cup, Levi's Catering, Me Va Me, Miami Grill, Milk and Honey, My Zaidy's Bakery, My Zaidy's Pizza, Oasis Cafe, Richmond's Bakery, Tom's Place, Tov-Li Pizza, United Bakery,Yehudales Falafel and Pizza

Thank You Canada

For having the courage to vote against the UN human rights council. In the end it did not help, but thank you for trying.

Touristy Stuff

One of the things they do in Ulpan is introduce Israeli culture. We often do stories about important people, places and events in Israeli history. On Thursday my Ulpan took a trip to Jerusalem. We visited the Supreme Court, Knesset and Menachim Begin Museum. The Supreme Court and Knesset were tours I had oppurtunities to take at other times when I was in Israel and choose to pass. This time it was worth going.

The first stop was the Supreme Court. After our whole group went through security a bag was left outside of security. They were getting nervous as noone in our group claimed it. As we were standing around a staff member from the floor above us managed to drop their cell phone near where a bunch of us were standing. We began the tour and left security to deal with their bag.

As this was Ulpan the tour was conducted in Hebrew. The guide was talking way to fast for me to register anything she was saying, even when she did use words I understood. Once we made it into the courtroom, she finally got the message to slow down. Either I understood half of what she said or I have a really off the deep end understanding of the court system. My favourite moment was when someone in my class got up and asked the guide a question in Russian. Her eyes just completly glazed over. Members of my class were happy to see that she now understood how we felt. I think we had an oppurtunity to see a case in action in the main courthouse, but we didn't have enough time.

The Supreme Court is a beautiful building. A lot of deep and well thought out symbolism was used representing important values of justice. I could not help but to think of recent court rulings that violated the principles incorporated into the building. A soldier sentenced to 21 days in jail for the crime of yawning. The ruling in favour of the forcible eviction of land legally purchased by Jews. There is overwhelming evidence the sale was not coerced. The only issue that seems to be at stake is the seller didn't know he was selling to Jews and is trying to avoid the death penalty.

The next stop was a short walk down to the Knesset. Security was extra tight with cell phone and cameras confisicated and stored in a bag until after the visit. I was surprised when I set off the medal detector. Without doing anything different I walked through a second time without doing anything different without setting of the medal detector. That meant a quick pat down of my pockets followed by a gruff "Welcome" afterwards. It is ammusing when Israeli security gaurds try to be friendly.

(The Knesset and Supreme Court have a Tadiran phone system. Although they are using the beige DKT phones which were discontinued a long time ago.) Our first stop was a video presentation. It was in Hebrew with Hebrew subtitles. Since it was designed as a promotional video, it was slow and clear combined with the writting I was able to understand a lot. We were given the option to watch it again as an English tour joined up with our group. Next we went to the Knesset floor. It struck me how American it was in design and layout. I really like to the pomp and ceremony of the Canadian system. The Knesset has a VIP gallery. Behind that is the public gallery which is behind sound proof glass. The tour guide explained the reason was because some once through a grenade in the old Knesset building and injured some people. The secondary reason was for noise control. I got a good laugh, as the second answer is probably the true one.

We then took the bus to the Menachim Begin Museum. It was a well done exhibit on the life story of Begin. It is amazing that someone could spend 26 years on the opposition benches before spending 6 years as Prime Minister. Each room had some sort of video on different parts of his life. There was even a room where you could select each and every election campaign he was a part of. Headphones were provided to translate the video into the language of choice. Between the different rooms there was usually an introduction given by our tour guide.

My favourite was there was a room set up with a table and chairs to simiulate Irgun planning meetings. On the left was a video of a street with a British Patrol. In front there was a monitor on the left with BBC broadcasts of various events. On the right was the same broadcast coming from the Israeli underground. There was another monitor to show events taking place. During the planning discussuion hands appeared on the tables and you could watch the planning take place. They covered the Akko prison break, King David Hotel, Soldier Hangings, Ship sinking. At one point a comment is made that there are too many British patrols as the monitor on the left shined a light into the entire room. It was a pretty simple but cool effect.

The only objection about the museum came from someone active for the Likud. They are commemorating 30 years since the Camp David accords next year. There are pictures of the Carter/Sadat/Begin handshake. He felt it was a government agenda to move the peace process forward. When I pointed out that they showed Begin saying "There will never be a Palestinian State" at the museum and at the Knesset. He said it was just there to cover up the government agenda.

The tour ended with a trip on an elevator. It was a round room that could hold 30 people. They played Begin's speech from 1978 on Ammunition Hill, about the importance of Jerusalem. When the doors open you get a beautiful view of the old city.

All in all it was a pretty good day.

Sick of politics

I know Jason has already covered the elections, but I just could not let the whole thing pass without adding my 2 agurot.

I can't say that I am thrilled with the outcome of the Beit Shemesh (soon to be renamed Beis Sheemish) elections. But, as in a deomcrasy it is the rule of the majority, I can accept the fact that my "team" lost. I can deal with that. Happened all the time in Canada. Ok, so we hope the new guy will not be as bad as we fear and move forward.

But truth be told, I can not say that I am thrilled with any part of the electoral process.

I am not normally a political person. Sure I always vote- not so much because I think it is my civic duty or anything like that, but instead because I feel that if you remove yourself from the process, than you have no right to complain about the results or their repercussions. As we all know that I like to complain, I make sure to get out and vote.

For the first time since I turned 18 I was actually relatively excited to vote. Getting my voter card here was exciting. I am an Israeli and thus have a right to have a say in how my own little piece of our ancestral land is going to be governed. (This is even more meaningful since we are not sure we will get to vote in the Federal election in February as we will have been here less than a year.)

But I was REVOLTED by how the campaigning and elections were run. It made me sick to see the dirty tactics and disgusting behavriour by the candidates and their followers. I know that I needed to expect a difference in cultural attitudes towards elections, but what I saw bordered on needing to bring in a neutral observer with trained military personel in order to make sure we had a free and fair election!

Beit Shemesh has an online list (henseforth referred to as "the list") and the Ramah has a second online list all its own (henseforth referred to as "rbs2"). The shmutz going back and forth on the lists for weeks has been disgusting. Everything from "Gedolim say you MUST vote for our candidate or you are voting against Hashem and the Torah" to "I saw candidate X and his followers throwing campaign litter on a street" to baseless accusations of backroom deals and purchased votes from all parties.

It got so bad that both lists refused to allow any more election related posts to go up, and sending them in could lead to an immidiate posting ban from the poster. The Lashon Harah on the list was so bad they were coming it faster that you could read them.

Consistency is good. It is nice to know that sinat chinam is just as bad now as it was when Hashem destroyed the Beit Hamikdash.

Add to that the vote tampering and rampant cheating that goes on in this country at election time, and rather than being proud to be part of the system, it made me embarrassed to be Israeli.

Israeli Elections (Where fraud is normal)

Being able to vote is one of the ultimate acts of citizenship. As politics is something I have always been interested in, I was very excited to be able to vote. Instead of being proud to be a voter and active in the political process, I am embarrassed witnessing first hand the worst of what our political system has to offer.

I tried on a number of occasions to volunteer for one of the parties. First they did not respond to my request. I finally got sent down a chain of volunteers of who directed me to the person I should talk to. He responded with just show up at a particular location whenever you feel like it. This morning I called the party for a ride to the polling station. An hour later I called again and they finally arranged a ride for us. A party representative that I have a lot of respect for was at the booth across from the polling station. I asked if I could help after the polls close. They made some phone calls and told me I was out of luck. Later in the evening, an e-mail went out on the list asking for after the polls close help. I called the campaign manager who I have met. He told me to call another number. They told me that they would call me if they needed me. I tried to help. Nobody wanted it.

I am used to parties not campaigning on election day. There were cars driving around all day playing loud music with election posters. Garbage was everywhere as parties scrambled to put up their own last minute election signs and tear down those of their opponents. Streets were littered with garbage everywhere. Campaign booths were set up accross from polling stations.
On the plus side I met a candidate that I had sent my resume to earlier in the morning. He showed me on his phone that he had the e-mail and he would be reading it.

After voting I became very concerned about how easy it is to manipulate the election, through ballot tampering or misleading information. As the day went on there were more and more reports of vote tampering. (Details on how votes are cast is in my politics blog). Last report police were investigating 420 seperate incidences.

We have been here for almost 3 months. Today was the first time I have been embarrased to call myself and Israeli. I was so upset that I sent an e-mail to Elections Canada requesting that they lend their expertise in ending the election corruption. Afterall they are the same organizaiton that helps such advance countries as Iraq, Haiti and Afghanistan have free and fair elections. I just hope the people's choice is the actual winner.

Local Elections - Bet Shemesh

As not to bore you with local politics, I have posted details of this weeks local elections on my politics blog.

http://frozenpolitics.blogspot.com/2008/11/local-elections-bet-shemesh.html

Mixing Religion with Politics

The battle for Mayor and city council has really been heating up over the past two weeks. The streets are littered with garbage campaign material. Accusations are flying about the dangers of voting for other candidates and the risk of vote splitting.

On Shabbos the Rabbi of our shul stepped in with his own take on the campaign. He had been asked earlier in the week to endorse the Haredi candidate because all of the Gedolim were endorsing him. He immediately challenged their definition of "all." A delegatation was then sent to tell him what a great guy the Haredi candidate was. He responded that there were people he knew that could spend just as much time, telling him what a great person another one of the candidates were. On Shabbos morning he announced that he was endorsing everyone to come out to the debate tonight and make a decision for themselves.

After Shabbos in a less public setting he added onto his views of the election. He could not tell is Mizrachi following to vote for the Haredi candidate when the first thing he will do is funnel education dollars into the haredi school system. In other words he will not sell out his congregation. This is especially comforting considering the school he is the principal of would be the beneficiery of the shift in school funding. I really like our Rabbi.

Election Campaign

Elections here are very different than what we are used to. When voting each party and candidate is assigned a letter or letter combination. A voter than chooses the letter corresponding to who they wish to vote for. I will discuss this more in depth after the November 11th municipal elections.

When we arrived in August election signs were already up. There are different strategies for elections signs. Some have pictures of candidates, some have the party name. The mayor has been running with the slogan יהיה טוב (it will be good). When his signs first went up it was not clear if it was political campaign or random anonymous Rosh Hashanah greetings. In the last few days the strategy is changed. Posters are up everywhere prominantly displaying the letter the candidates will be running under.

At around 6:45 tonight we heard loud music followed by the sound of cars honking. It was a 50(yes, I counted) car parade including the mayor's campaign bus. The cars had baloons and the letters עד (witness) prominently displayed. I must admit that I really don't get it, but it did add 10 minutes of entertainment to my evening.

We got our Voter Cards :)

That means that somewhere, somehow, someone knows that the Swirsky family is now Israeli and living in RBS and needs to vote.

Sorry, this sounds silly, but it was a "living the dream" moment for me. I used to feel like I had no right to kvetch about Israeli politics as frankly, it was none of my darn business. Now it is :) It is my business (and in fact a major source of pride around here) to kvetch and bitch about the government!

Ok, Ok, so I know Jason is more the politics guy, but I think it is kind of neat.