Now this kind of thing is resisted because it is felt that this is going
against the prevailing view of evolution, where natural selection is
the only factor that is shaping adaptation. If you introduce epigenetic
inheritance, and the inducible aspects of epigenetic inheritance into
evolutionary theory, it looks like Lamarckian inheritance – it looks
like you have the inheritance of a quiet epigenetic variation, which are
or can be sometimes a specific response to the environment.
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Supreme Court strikes down Defense of Marriage Act
New York Times Supporters of same-sex marriage celebrated the Supreme Court rulings on
Wednesday as landmark decisions that brought the nation closer to full
equality. Opponents said the court had badly overreached in striking
down the Defense of Marriage Act, and they vowed to press on against
same-sex marriage in the courts and through a constitutional ban.
“This doesn’t end it,” said Representative Tim Huelskamp, Republican of
Kansas. “If anything, it’s been ignited and continues to be discussed.”
He said the court action was an attempt to “short-circuit the process
and to undo a decision, a strong bipartisan decision, signed by
President Bill Clinton and supported by then-Senator Joe Biden; for this
court to overrule it, I think folks are tired of judges dictating.”
Backers of same-sex marriage in Washington and around the nation
embraced the rulings and welcomed what they said was the demise of a
biased federal law that turned gay Americans into second-class citizens.[....]
But he insisted that same-sex marriage opponents had scored a victory in
the case involving California’s ban, Proposition 8. Rather than embrace
a broad constitutional right to same-sex marriage, as the lead lawyers
Theodore B. Olson and David Boies had urged, the justices issued a
ruling that ensured a return to same-sex marriage only in California.
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Rav Kook at Hebrew University - The importance of a University if subordinated to Torah
Rav Kook (Hebrew University): some excerpts from Tradition Magazine. 29:1 1994 page 87-92.
It is interesting to note how similar his vision is to Rav S. R. Hirsch and how different from Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks.
It is also important to understand that this speech has been severely misunderstood and misrepresented in the Chareidi world - in particular by the Yated.
=====================================The prophet of consolation prophesied (Isaiah 60:4-5 ):
Your sons shall be brought from afar, your daughters like babes on shoulders.As you behold, you will glow. Your heart will fear and rejoice for the wealth of the sea shall pass on to you; the riches of the nations shall come to you. [...]
But why "fear"? Why did the prophet preface the phrase "Your heart will rejoice" with the notion of fear? When, however, we look back in retrospect at past generations, and at the spiritual and intellectual movements that have influenced us, we readily understand that the notion of fear) in conjunction with rejoicing, is appropriate.
Two tendencies characterize Jewish spirituality, One tendency is internal and entirely sacred; it serves to deepen the spirit and to strengthen the light of Torah within. Such has been the purpose of all Torah institutions from earliest times, especially the fortresses of Israel's soul - the ycshivot. This includes all the yeshivot that ever existed, presently exist, and will exist in order to glorify Torah in its fullest sense. This spiritual tendency is fully confident and assured. "Those who love Your Torah enjoy well-being; they encounter no adversity" (Psalm 119:165). Despite such confidence, Rabbi Nehunyah ben Haqanah, upon entering the house of study, used to pray that nothing go awry with his presentation and that it not lead to error.
The second tendency
characterizing Jewish spirituality served not only to deepen the sacredness of
Torah within, but also as a means for the propagation and absorption of ideas.
It served to prop· agate Jewish ideas and values from the private domain of
Judaism into the public arena of the universe at large. For this purpose we
have been established as a light unto the nations. It also served to absorb the
general knowledge derived by the collective effort of all of humanity, by
adapting the good and useful aspects of general knowledge to our storehouse of
a purified way of living. Ultimately, this absorption too serves as a means of
a moderated propagation to the world at large. Toward the attainment of this
end, the Hebrew University can serve as a great and worthy instrument.
Here, dear friends,
there is room for fear. From earliest times, we have experienced the transfer
of the most sublime and holy concepts from the Jewish domain to the general
arena. An example of propagation was the translation of the Torah into Greek.
Two very different Jewish responses to this event emerged. In the land of
Israel, Jews were frightened their world darkened. In contrast, Greek Jewry
rejoiced. There were also instances of absorption. Various cultural
influences, such as Greek culture and other foreign cultures that Jews
confronted throughout their history, penetrated into our inner being. Here too,
many Jewish circles responded to absorption with fear, while other Jews
rejoiced.
When we look back on
the previous generations, and reckon with hindsight, we realize that neither
the fear nor the rejoicing was in vain. We gained in some areas and lost in
others in our confrontation with foreign cultures. This much is dear: Regarding
those cirdes that welcomed absorption and propagation joyously, with
unmitigated optimism and with no trepidation, very few of their descendants
remain with us today, participating in our difficult and holy task of rebuiling
our land and resuscitating our people. For the vast majority of them have
assimilated among the nations; they found themselves caught up in the waves of
the ''wealth of the sea" and the "riches of the nations" that
have come to us ..
Only from those who
resided securely in our innermost fortresses, in the tents of Torah, enmeshed
in the sanctity of the law, did emerge the truly creative Jews-that great
portion of our nation who are loyal to its flag who work tirelessly to build
our great edifice. Among these were many who propagated and absorbed. They
exported and imported ideas and values on the spiritual highway that mediates
between Israel and the nations. Their attitude, however, toward this
undertaking was never one of rejoicing only. Fear accompanied their joy as they
confronted the vision of the "wealth of the sea" belonging to the
"riches of the nations."
Quite rightly did the
prophet say: "As you behold, you will glow. Your heart will fear and
rejoice for the wealth of the sea shall pass on to you; the riches of the
nations shall come to you."
But how does one
overcome the fear? How do we assure the safety of the nation against the mighty
stream engulfing it?
As a representative of
the Jewish community, standing on this honored platform, I submit to you the
reflections of many distinguished segments of the community of traditional
Judaism. It must be understood that the Hebrew University by itself cannot
fulfill all the educational requirements necessary for the success of Our
national life. We must realize that, first and foremost, it is the great Torah
yeshivot, those that now exist and those to be constructed that are worthy of
the name including the Central Yeshivah which we are establishing in Jerusalem,
which shall be a light onto Israel in all areas of Torah, whether halakhah,
aggadah, Jewish action, or Jewish thought that uphold the spirit of the nation
and provide for its security. Moreover, the Hebrew University must maintain
standards so that the name of Heaven, Israel, and the land of Israel are
sanctified, and never desecrated, by it. This applies to administration,
academic staff, and students alike. In particular, it is essential that
academicians teaching Jewish studies, ranging from biblical study the light of
our life to talmudic study, to Jewish history and thought, aside from their
academic excellence, be personally loyal emotionally and intellectually to
traditional Judaism. Only then will the fear we experience, together with the
magnificent vision we behold this day, lead us to glow and rejoice in blessing.
These are our
aspirations regarding the institution crowned today with the glory of Israel by
the "wealth of the sea" and the "riches of the nations"
that have come to us. May the prayer of Rabbi Nehunyah ben Haqanah be fulfilled
in us: May my presentation not lead to error. [...]
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Chief Rabbi Sacks attacks Chareidim for their isolation from world
Times of Israel Retiring British Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan
Sacks has launched a blistering attack on ultra-Orthodox Judaism, which
“segregates itself from the world and from its fellow Jews.”
Speaking at his own retirement dinner
Monday night, Sacks drew an equivalence between assimilated Jews “who
embrace the world and reject Judaism, and those who embrace Judaism and
reject the world.”
That the center is shrinking is “worse than
dangerous,” said Sacks. “It is an abdication of the role of Jews and
Judaism in the world. We are here to engage with the world, to be true
to our faith and a blessing to others regardless of their faith.”
During his 22-year tenure, which will come to a
close on September 1, Sacks was often accused of deferring too much to
Haredi rabbis – including amending the text of his book, “The Dignity of
Difference,” in response to criticism by ultra-Orthodox leaders –
leading some in the audience to speculate that he will take a harder
line post-retirement.
Monday night, the last in a series of communal
events marking his departure, highlighted his position as a leading
religious voice in Britain today. [...]
Although the Chief Rabbi has not yet indicated
what formal position he is likely to accept after September, he seemed
to stake out a strong role for himself promoting a centrist Orthodoxy,
pledging to work to “inspire a new generation of leaders for the Jewish
world, rabbinical, educational and lay, who will have the courage to
face the world and all its challenges without fear, will have the
responsibility to lead and the spirit to be a source of light in a
sometimes dark and difficult world.
“I want to inspire young Jews throughout the
world to believe in and live a Judaism that is tolerant, inclusive,
embracing, non-judgmental; that is intellectually open and ethically
uplifting; that is neither defensive nor arrogant, but that lives the
life of faith in such a way as to enhance the life of others within and
beyond the Jewish community.”
He expanded on the vision in a new pamphlet,
“A Judaism Engaged with the World,” which was personally signed and
handed to every guest, and is available for free download.
The Rise of the One Minute Workout
NY Times In an article under his byline
for Sports Illustrated in December 1960, “The Soft American,”
President-elect John F. Kennedy lamented the state of the nation’s
fitness. As president he exhorted citizens to plunge into activities
like 50-mile hikes.
As anyone sitting quietly and reading this
article probably knows, that message did not resonate with most
Americans. And these days, a majority get no planned exercise at all.
So at the recent annual meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine, one of the hottest topics was not how much exercise Americans should be completing, but how little.[...]
In the past, formal recommendations have called for a substantial amount of regular exercise. For example, published guidelines
from the Health and Human Services Department in 2008 suggested 150
minutes of moderate exercise per week — the equivalent of five 30-minute
walks. The guidelines added that 75 minutes of vigorous exercise a
week, like jogging, could be substituted.[...]
This approach to exercise started to take off in 2006, when Martin Gibala, a physiologist at McMaster University in Ontario, and his colleagues published a study
showing that a three-minute sequence on an electronic stationary
bicycle — 30 seconds of punishing, all-out pedaling followed by a brief
rest, repeated five or six times — led to the same muscle-cell
adaptations as 90 to 120 minutes of prolonged bike riding. [...]
Researchers haven’t established a definitive period of time for an
interval to provide maximum health benefits, Dr. Gibala said — although
in his research and experience, a minute of hard effort followed by a
minute of gentle recovery is effective.
Complete 10 such intervals
three times a week for a total of 30 minutes of strenuous effort, he
said, and “our data would indicate you’ll be in pretty good shape.”
Excellent summary of the Draft & Curriculum issues in Israel
Cross-Currents The situation in Israel resembles a playing field upon which multiple
teams descend at the same time, each one playing by different rules.
What spectators in the stands observe is utter chaos, frustrating in its
incomprehensibility. Consider this a half-time look back.
What do we know about what is really in store for our brethren in the
charedi camp in Israel? Very little, since none of the opposing forces
speak the language of the other. We can safely say that, whatever one’s
feelings are about the coalition agreement on the charedi draft and the
imposition of the core curriculum in charedi schools, our charedi
cousins are living through a time of great angst and uncertainty. They
deserve our solicitude and tefilos. It is part of our mesorah to treat
pain with sympathy, regardless of the source or cause.
The handful of postings on Cross-Currents have evoked much passion
from our readers, and occasionally some real illumination. I will try
here to summarize some of what emerges from pooling all that has been
said here and published in other places, combining it with
off-the-record conversations with unnamed Israeli government officials. I
will make no judgments about the issues themselves, other than to
reformat material about them that strikes me as plausible enough to be
worthy of consideration.
From what we can tell, the charedi community in Israel has split into two camps. One camp sees the proposed legislation as a gezeras shmad.
It demonizes everyone connected with the effort, and refuses to talk of
any compromise. They call it a war – and you can’t negotiate
effectively while the bullets are flying around your head. Within this
camp of absolute resisters is R. Shmuel Auerbach shlit”a, the Briskers,
and many, many more. The press associated with this camp speaks in
martial terms.
A second camp tacitly recognizes that things are going to change, and
has expected the change for quite some time. People in this camp
understood that one day, Israeli society would no longer wish to
substantially foot the bill for a large group of people who had turned
long-term full-time learning into the norm. Those in this camp, however –
reportedly including Rav Aharon Leib Shteinman shlit”a – feel that a
system that was regnant for so long and set in motion by Torah giants
cannot be undone by lesser individual of a later generation. It will not
resist as strongly as the first camp, but neither will they preside
over the dismantling of a Torah-only society. So far, they have refused
to meet with architects of the coalition agreement who wished to start a
dialogue. The decision of the Peri committee to add criminal sanctions
to non-compliance with a charedi draft shifted many people away from
this group convinced great numbers of people that the first camp was
correct, that charedim were targeted for a full-scale assault on their
way of life.
The non-charedi world seems to have found its uniting slogan in shivyon hanetel,
or the equal assumption of responsibility by all members of the State.
(Almost equal. In good Orwellian form, all Israelis are expected to be
equal, but some are more equal than others. The Arabs are left out of
it. No one wants them for the military because of the security risk.)
The Haaretz crowd cannot disguise its disdain for charedim, but it is
not at all clear that the average Israeli wants anything more out of the
entire effort than a bit of justice and a bit of financial relief. The
hysteria whipped up by the Haaretz yefai nefesh is matched by
the hysteria whipped up by the charedi press (in the US as well) in
creating a public mind-set in which every bigoted, over-the-top remark
by some secular leftist is lovingly embellished and sent on to the
public as representative of the majority of secular Israeli society.
This is simply unwarranted, and likely not true. There is a reason why
everything is coming to a head just now, and it still seems to be
economics. At least it was when it got started. Any apologia for
charedim which does not address the present and future projected burden
of an underemployed community on the national economy is inadequate.[...]
Chief Rabbi Metzger arrested - Who cares?
Times of Israel Rabbi Shmuel Pappenheim of the haredi
Orthodox organization Eda Haharedit shares little common ground with
Reform Rabbi Uri Regev, a religious pluralism activist.
But when news broke last week that
Israel’s Ashkenazi chief rabbi, Yona Metzger, was arrested on suspicion
of fraud and money laundering, Pappenheim and Regev had the same
reaction: Who cares?
For Pappenheim, the chief rabbi is a political
figure who has scant influence as a religious leader. And to Regev, he
represents a coercive religious authority whose actions have little
meaning for Israel’s secular majority.
Both regard the chief rabbi’s legal troubles as both unsurprising and largely irrelevant.
“Whom does the chief rabbi serve?” asked
Regev, who heads Hiddush, a religious pluralism nonprofit. “The secular
sector has no connection to the rabbinate. It doesn’t have any
expectations of the chief rabbinate.” [....]
Monday, June 24, 2013
3 year review declares Jesse Friedman properly convicted of sex abuse
NYTimes Jesse Friedman,
the Great Neck, N.Y., teenager whose role in a sexual abuse case a
quarter-century ago was portrayed in the Oscar-nominated documentary “Capturing the Friedmans,”
and came to symbolize an era of sensational, often-suspect accusations
of child molestation, was properly convicted and should not have his
status as a sexual predator overturned, according to a three-year review
that was released on Monday.
In a 155-page report written with very little ambiguity, the Nassau County district attorney, Kathleen M. Rice, concluded that none of four issues raised in a strongly worded 2010 ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit were substantiated by the evidence.
Instead, it concluded, “By any impartial analysis, the reinvestigation
process prompted by Jesse Friedman, his advocates and the Second
Circuit, has only increased confidence in the integrity of Jesse
Friedman’s guilty plea and adjudication as a sex offender.”
The review concludes another chapter in a case that came to national
attention after the 2003 release of the film, which portrayed both the
breakup of a deeply troubled family and what was characterized as a
flawed, biased police investigation and judicial process. The case led
to guilty pleas in 1988 by Jesse Friedman, then 18, and his father,
Arnold Friedman, who ran a popular computer class at his house on
Piccadilly Road in the affluent Long Island community of Great Neck.
The report’s conclusion was not entirely unexpected, even by Mr.
Friedman and his advocates, given the explosive nature of the charges,
the impossibility of a definitive finding on many of the allegations
more than 25 years in the past and the high bar for prosecutors to
overturn convictions, especially those based on confessions.
Still, Mr. Friedman; his lawyer, Ron Kuby; and the film’s director,
Andrew Jarecki, reacted with disappointment and anger, saying the report
was a biased whitewash by the office that originally botched the case.[...]
The Mitzvah of Chesed – An Overview by Rabbi Yair Hoffman
5tjt Thankfully, we live in a community that is blessed with people who
perform remarkable, remarkable acts of Chessed. The efforts of Yeshiva
students and others in the wake of Hurricane Sandy were remarkably
inspiring. Very recently, we were witness to local Yeshiva students
from Yeshiva of Far Rockaway who danced vigorously to bring joy to a
groom, local high school girls (TAG) working the kitchen and waitressing
a wedding, local elementary boys (Siach Yitzchok) waitering for another
Simcha. Mothers of the high school girls joined their daughters in
this Mitzvah as well, fathers happily provided transportation and other
support. Girls returning from seminary joined up too. So impressive is
the extent of the chessed in our community, that the daughter of a very
famous Rosh Yeshiva in Brooklyn who came to one of these Smeichot
remarked, “I have never seen this level of Chessed before. This should
be a model for all of Klal Yisroel.”
The truth is that this is just a drop in the bucket of the extensive
chessed that goes on around us. In light of this remarkable activity,
an overview of the general Mitzvah of Chessed is presented below.
THE TWO GEMORAHS
The Gemorah (Sotah 14a) discusses the pasuk which says, “Acharei
Hashem Elokecha taylechu – you shall walk after Hashem your G-d (Dvarim
13:5).” The Gemorah poses a question. It asks, “How is it possible to
physically walk after the Divine Presence?”
The Gemorah responds that it means to follow after the Midos, the
character traits, kavyachol, of Hashem. Just as He provides for the
unclothed, so too must you provide clothing to them. The Sefer Mitzvos
Gedolos states that this verse is part of the related Pasuk of
“v’halachta b’drachav – and you shall walk in his ways.” In other
words, the verse of Acharei Hashem Elokecha Taylechu is referencing the
verse of v’halachta b’drachav.
The Gemorah in Shabbos (133b) discusses another entirely different
pasuk, “Zeh Kaili V’anveihu..” The Gemorah in Shabbos understands it to
mean that we must attempt to liken ourselves to Him. Just as He is kind
and merciful, so too must you be kind and merciful. [...]
Sunday, June 23, 2013
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