That's what's being claimed.  That Ehud Olmert received several hundreds of thousands of dollars from Morris (Moshe) Talansky.

That's a Channel 10 picture.

Funny enough, a met with a friend who hails from Portland where Talansky was a Rabbi in the 1950s but the congreghation felt him too Orthodox.

"Follow the paper trail" is a well-known investigative move.

I am following the newspaper trail on Olmert, here:

A Long Island mogul is at the center of a sensational bribery scandal that could bring down embattled Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, The Post has learned.

Millionaire financier Morris T - who runs an investment firm out of his tony home in Woodmere - allegedly passed money to Olmert while the politician was mayor of Jerusalem in the '90s, sources said.

In a highly unusual move, Israeli authorities have barred the country's media from publishing T's name - revealed now in The Post - saying it could hamper their investigation. Israeli media has referred only to the involvement of an "American businessman."

T is apparently set to sing to Israeli authorities about his alleged role in the scheme, sources said.

Anybody out there on Long Island willing to comment?  Anybody?

Another investigation regarding Ehud Olmert, Israel's Prime Minister, has begun.  One paper terms it "substantive".  Another is highlighting the decision Attorney-Gneral Mazuz might have to take regarding Olmert's suspension, at this stage.

The public is in the dark, sort of, because of a gag order although some news has leaked out.

I guess we'll have to wait.

And wait the Prime Minister will have to do also.

Good luck, Ehud.

Despite my colleague's impressive record, the nationalist/religious camp is in sore need of several Tzvi Fishmans.  Among other fronts, the cultural sphere is permeated with a negative, mocking and sarcastic portrayal of genuine committed Judaism.

Here's a case in point:-

This is the ad for a new play entitled "Alma and Ruth" written by Goren Agmon which is being presented at the prestigious Bet Lessin theater.  And the plot?

Alma (Yona Elian, pictured below) is in the publication business and a former kibbutznik.  She is raising two children, a son and daughter.  When her husband, a mountain climber (of all things), is killed on a slope, the daughter, Maya, becomes observant and there is a break in the mother-daughter relationship.  Just at this time, Alma decides to publish a book by a Hareidi woman, Ruth, who asserts she suffered sexual abuse by a Rabbi.  The Hareidi community protests, Maya joins in and the mother-daughter conflict is ratcheted up.

The playwright, Goren Agmon, herself is a former resident of Kvutzat Schiller who became observant at age 17 and returned to secularism at age 20.  She claims that she suffered rejection and she finds a link between the kibbutz society and the Hareidi society in their relationships with rejected children and censorship of opinion.

Artistic expression seems to be a problematic issue for the religious.  The cinema, the stage, painting, literature and other spheres are very powerful means of communication and influence not to mention the media.  But somehow, these areas of human endeavor as practiced by the observant, for good and not-so-good reasons, lag behind the secular elements of our society.

There must be a solution. Not everything can be written about or portrayed but I am sure much more can be done.

Do I hear applause?

There's a fire down towards Silwan:

From your intrepid reporter-on-the-spot.