Last year, reports about the call by some rabbis for a “personal mechitzah” on planes made their rounds. My friend Josh N. just forwarded to me a more stylish answer to the generic personal mechitzah, the privacy shell. At least the “privacy shell” has room for two. See here for details.

For some time now in Arad there has been a battle between hasidim from Habad and Gur over who has control over the central synagogue. From time to time things get a bit violent, and the confrontation from this past shabbat created a rare situation. Apparently, there was an argument over which rabbi was going to have an aliyah, and it happened to be that two policemen were passing by when the tumult was happening. In the end, a female policewoman along with a Beduin policeman had to restore order to the synagogue. Ynet has some pictures that were first published on Kikar Hashabat. The above picture is a rarity, a woman on the bimah of an orthodox synagogue in Israel on shabbat, let alone surrounded by hasidim.

Update: Hirhurim thinks that this might be a hoax, but the whole post is worth it just to see this comment that it elicited from Gil (whom I assume is “Hirhurim”).

I got this off a blog to which I will not link but whose author is not capable of writing this kind of ban.

Gevalt.

Our Rabbis have taught: There are seven types of Pharisees: the shikmi Pharisee, the nikpi Pharisee, the kizai Pharisee, the ‘pestle’ Pharisee, the Pharisee [who constantly exclaims] ‘What is my duty that I may perform it?’, the Pharisee from love [of God] and the Pharisee from fear. The shikmi Pharisee-he is one who performs that action of Shechem. (see Gen. 34) The nikpi Pharisee-he is one who knocks his feet together. The kizai Pharisee-R. Nahman b. Isaac said: He is one who makes his blood flow against walls.
Sotah 22b

Rashi, s.v. meikiz dam le-kotalim (makes his blood flow against walls): He makes himself as if he closes his eyes in order not to look at women, and as a result of this he knocks his head into the wall and blood comes out.

The above text in its entirety is very interesting, and is found in a number of places with variations between them. See Avot de-Rabbi Natan, version B, 45 (Schechter ed., p. 124, here for English trans.), version A, 37 (p. 109); Y. Berachot 9:5, 14b; Y. Sota 5:5, 20c. This source has been discussed with relation to the identification of the Perushim and rabbinic asceticism. Regarding the former, see this important article by Shaye Cohen, and with regard to the latter, see this article by Steven Fraade. Also see this post at On the Main Line. This source even makes an appearance in an official document of the Vatican.