1. A large youth movement is organizing a political panel ahead of the elections, as is customary these days. They approached the Jewish Home and coordinated Naftali Bennett's arrival. The same was true when they approached Meretz. Zehava Galon quickly announced that she was in.
Tzipi Livni's spokesman was particularly kind and even helped them think of an original format for the panel and offered to update the media on the event. The Kulanu Party sent Eli Alalof, and the Yesh Atid Party sent Ofer Shelah.
The organizers repeatedly contacted the Likud. Everyone who answered them through the party apparatus transferred them to another party.
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""Every speaker put me in the speaker's assistant," one of the organizers told me. Likud gave more and more email addresses, didn't answer whether they were sending a representative to the panel and who, and finally asked to receive... a request by fax. The ad went to print without anyone from Likud.
A very small story that indicates a very large party that is in trouble.
2. Yair Lapid says that once a young relative of his had to prepare a roots project for school.
""Don't bother," he told her. "Go into politics, and the media will investigate your entire past for you.".
Lapid was right. They say the elections happen on Facebook, but the coverage of the elections happens on Google.
There's no longer a need to go to the archives and laboriously search for the yearbooks of the new politicians. Journalists simply search for and usually find gems from the candidates' pasts online, and compare them with everything they've written, said, or typed in the past.
Sometimes it's just chatter ("Wow! Sara Eliash, the director of an Ulpana, doesn't recommend military service to graduates, but national service!"), but sometimes the person being quoted actually twists and turns and apologizes. Bezalel Smotrich, Yossi Yona, Meirav Michaeli, Shira Mystral - these are just some of the candidates in the election who have undergone such Google research in recent days, rightly and wrongly.
This raises bigger questions about this new era, where nothing is ever erased. It takes a lot of effort to hide our past, and every word has an eternal life. Wise people, be careful with your words. Especially if you are stupid.
3. Three election videos became talking points this week: Shas' transparent people, the Jewish Home's declaration of the (Palestinian) state, and Bibi's gimmick. These are three not-so-bad scripts, in my opinion, that convey the basic argument of each party well (where are the left-wing parties, by the way? Aren't they supposed to be cooler there?).
Until recently, there were media consultants who told politicians what to do. Stanley Greenberg, for example, would whisper in Barak's ear.
Arthur Finkelstein would give instructions to Netanyahu. But the politician had to at least do something: speak, make a speech, announce, launch, excite an audience. Now, at most, he comes for a five-minute photo op in front of children.
In the case of Bennett and Deri, it's more noticeable: How long, if at all, did they sit on these videos? Are they even connected to them? A video like this was made by sleepy-eyed video editors who snacked on Doritos while Deri, Bennett, and Bibi were sleeping. At most, they received a low-quality version in the morning, in a compressed email, and approved it for publication. And even that's only if the campaign managers decided to ask them.
We have two more months of video selections. The video editors will play before us.
Landau is endowed with "visual intelligence." A kind of ability to capture moments that are hard to believe happened in reality, from the alleys of Mea Shearim to the Gaza Strip.
The exhibition will be on display until the end of the week, and he also sees it as a mission: to present human, simple, everyday Haredim. He is not photographing Rebbes but a Hasid playing ball at an amusement park during a family visit. He is not looking for the Four Species Market but a Haredi child watching a secular guitar player in downtown Jerusalem.
In front of his surprising photos, another exhibition actually opens: it's interesting to look at what's hanging on the wall, but it's also interesting to watch the viewers themselves.
5. This week, corruption investigations reached public figures wearing knitted kippahs, surrounding the Israel Lands Administration.
Is it possible that reaching senior positions almost automatically brings with it such conduct? After all, Mapai, during its reign, often made deals, but back then they didn't investigate and write like they do today.
When Shas began to flourish, the government soon got to its head and brought a series of scandals (here the media handled it much better). During the years of Likud's rule and of course Kadima, they knew how to provide investigation after investigation after investigation. Now religious Zionism is firmly embedded in the mechanisms of power, and here its people are in interrogation rooms. Is this the fate of every elite?
Does power corrupt and that's it, and is there no escape from a few scandals in every sector that rises to prominence?
6. At the climax of this week's parsha, parsha "Bova," Pharaoh asks Moses for details about this planned journey into the desert. "And we will not know how we will serve the Lord until we come there," Moses replies. The Jewish journey is not a pre-determined recipe.
Rabbi Prof. Pinchas Plai explained this beautiful verse as follows: "These words, apparently uttered as a declaration of Moses' intentions during diplomatic negotiations, also express a profound theological truth.
""They teach us that when it comes to serving God, we should not expect to find a ready-made formula. True service to God requires constant search and discovery, agonizing wondering and wandering, progress and retreat, bold decisions and strengthening of faith. Faith is not a garden of roses waiting at the end of the road. And we will not know what we will serve God for - until we get there.".
• The column is published in Yedioth Ahronoth
