Mideast in turmoil

NYTimes

As the Obama administration confronts the spectacle of angry protesters and baton-wielding riot police officers from Tunisia to Egypt to Lebanon, it is groping for a plan to deal with an always-vexing region that is now suddenly spinning in dangerous directions.

As the Obama administration confronts the spectacle of angry protesters and baton-wielding riot police officers from Tunisia to Egypt to Lebanon, it is groping for a plan to deal with an always-vexing region that is now suddenly spinning in dangerous directions.

These were surprising turns. But even the administration’s signature project in the region — Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations — became even more intractable this week, with the publication of confidential documents detailing Palestinian concessions offered in talks with Israel. The disclosure makes it less likely that the Palestinians will agree to any further concessions. [...]

Child & Domestic Abuse vol I & II are selling nicely

The first delivery of books has been made to stores this week and
interest seems high. It is now available in stores in Brooklyn, Boston &
Baltimore. The fears of the stores stocking it seems to have been
overblown. It will take a few weeks to stabilize supply and demand. It
is still available on line at Amazon if your local store doesn't have it..

ADHD: U of Maryland wants participants in online study

Abigail Mintz, M.S. has left a new comment on your post "Attention-Deficit (ADHD) is real and not caused by...":

University of Maryland at College Park is conducting a research study to learn more about fathers who have children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) so that we can eventually use this knowledge to improve treatment for families of children with ADHD. If you are the biological father of a 5 - 12 year old child with ADHD or undiagnosed significant attention/disruptive behavior problems, you may be eligible for this study.

Your participation in this study would consist of completing online questionnaires which will take approximately 30 minutes. You will be asked questions about your parenting, your own behavior and emotions, and your child’s behavior.

As compensation for your participation, you will be entered into a drawing with a 1 in 50 chance of receiving a $50 Amazon gift certificate.

If you are interested, please follow the link below to the study. This link will direct you to all informed consent documents and the study.

LINK TO STUDY:

https://sites.google.com/site/learningaboutfathers/

If you are the mother of a child with ADHD, we would greatly appreciate if you would consider forwarding this study information to your child's father.

Rashi indicates one's children are punished for not fighting molesters

This weeks' parsha has a wakeup call to all those who are ignoring the problem of child and wife abuse and don't think it warrants their attention.

The Torah in this weeks parsha Shemos (22:21-23) states:

You should not afflict any widow or orphan. If you afflict them, and they cry to Me, I will surely hear their cry; and My anger will burn hot and I will kill you with the sword and your wives will become widows and your children orphans.

Rashi states that this punishment of wife and children applies to all cases where a helpless victim is ignored. It is important to note this is not addressing the punishment of the tormentor but those upstanding citizens who ignore the cries of the helpless and do nothing.

No widow and orphan should be afflicted – In fact no one else should be afflicted either but the Torah is describing the typical case. Since they are weak and helpless, it is common that they are afflicted. And your wives will become widows -  Since this is clearly understood from the fact that the verse says, “I will kill you” so why is it necessary to say that “your wives will become widows and your sons orphans?”  This indicates an additional curse that they will  be prohibited to remarry because there will not be witnesses to the death of their husband. The lesson we learn by the Torah saying “your sons will be orphans” is that the beis din will not allow them to benefit from the inheritance of their father since it will be unknown whether he in fact died or has been captured.

The Malbim says that Rashi is following the view of Rabbi Yishmael that the verse is referring to all those who have no protector - which obviously includes victims of molesters who are defenseless and are ignored. However Rabbi Akiva says this harsh punishment is reserved specifcally for those who ignore the suffering of widows and orphans.

Michale Fruend:Columbus of hidden "Jews"

YNET

He wanders Amazon jungles, travels to Chinese villages, searches Spain for Marranos, and sees India’s Bnei Menashe as his life's mission. Michael Freund has an obsession: Discovering remote Jews [...]

'Chastity Squad' member sent to prison for store attack

YNET

A member of Jerusalem's so-called "Chastity Squad" who attacked a store owner and drove away his customers – is going to jail, The Jerusalem District Court decided Tuesday. Judge Nava Ben-Or sentenced Shmuel Weisfish, 24, to two years in prison following his conviction for several charges of violence against the owner of an electronics store in the ultra-religious Geula neighborhood in Jerusalem. [...]

Alien Hand Syndrome sees woman attacked by her own hand

BBC

An operation to control her epilepsy left Karen Byrne with no control of her left hand

Imagine being attacked by one of your own hands, which repeatedly tries to slap and punch you. Or you go into a shop and when you try to turn right, one of your legs decides it wants to go left, leaving you walking round in circles.

Last summer I met 55-year-old Karen Byrne in New Jersey, who suffers from Alien Hand Syndrome.

Her left hand, and occasionally her left leg, behaves as if it were under the control of an alien intelligence.

Post mortem mila:A Young Life Passes, and a Ritual of Birth Begins

NYTimes

My hands trembled as I grasped the tiny sleeve of skin with my forceps and separated it from his pale, still penis. He lay weirdly motionless on a utility table, which I had draped with a slate-blue operating-room towel.

A few feet away, his young parents sat quietly wrapped in each other’s arms. Several family members and friends stood silently around the periphery of the small hospital room, whose gray-green walls enveloped us dispassionately.

The pregnancy had been uneventful. A month before the due date I had received a familiar, reluctant, yet eager call about arranging a bris, the ritual Jewish circumcision performed on the eighth day of life. The expectant parents promised to call back after delivery to confirm the date and time so they could order the deli platters. [...]

Self-control - secret to success: Confirmation of the classic marshmellow study

Time Magazine

Self-control may be the secret to success, according to a persuasive new study that followed 1,000 children from birth to age 32: children who showed early signs of self-mastery were not only less likely to have developed addictions or committed a crime by adulthood, but were also healthier and wealthier than their more impulsive peers.

Problems surfacing in adolescence, such as becoming a smoker or getting pregnant, accounted for about half of the bad outcomes associated with low self-control in childhood. Kids who scored low on such measures — for instance, becoming easily frustrated, lacking persistence in reaching goals or performing tasks, or having difficulty waiting their turn in line — were roughly three times more likely to wind up as poor, addicted, single parents or to have multiple health problems as adults, compared with children who behaved more conscientiously as early as age 3. [...]

Incredible!!!! Tropper's arrival in Israel - greeted with great honor by rabbis

BCHOL

הקול, קול יעקב • התוועדו עם הרב לאחר תקופה ארוכה, הגיע הרב ליב טרופר לארץ • הוא קיבל חיזוק מגדולי ישראל והתוועד עם עשרות תלמידי ישיבת 'קול יעקב' • דיווח ותמונות

עשרות איש נועדו במוצאי שבת שירה בבית-המדרש בשכונת הבוכרים בירושלים עם מייסד ישיבת 'קול יעקב' במונסי, הרב ליב טרופר מניו-יורק.

קשה להאמין כי כל המשתתפים באירוע, בני תורה ברמ"ח איבריהם, חזרו בתשובה. אחד היה רופא, השני ספורטאי - וכן הלאה. כולם היו רחוקים מתורה ומצוות. עד שהגיעו לישיבת 'קול יעקב', שם ניצת בהם הניצוץ היהודי . 

Michael Freund: "Bring The Bnei Menashe Home To Israel

Jewish Press

Several time zones away, in the farthest reaches of northeastern India, live thousands of men and women longing to rejoin the Jewish people.[...]

 
In 2005, the Sephardic chief rabbi of Israel, Shlomo Amar, formally recognized the Bnei Menashe as "descendants of Israel" and encouraged their return to Israel and the Jewish people.
 
Over the past decade, more than 1,700 members of the community have made aliyah to Israel thanks to Shavei Israel, the organization I chair.
 
All have undergone formal conversion by the Chief Rabbinate to remove any doubts regarding their personal status and have been granted Israeli citizenship.
 
But another 7,232 remain in India, anxiously awaiting their chance to make aliyah. The time has come to put an end to their waiting.[...]
 

Tiger Moms: Is Tough Parenting Really the Answer?

Time Magazine

t was the "Little White Donkey" incident that pushed many readers over the edge. That's the name of the piano tune that Amy Chua, Yale law professor and self-described "tiger mother," forced her 7-year-old daughter Lulu to practice for hours on end — "right through dinner into the night," with no breaks for water or even the bathroom, until at last Lulu learned to play the piece.

For other readers, it was Chua calling her older daughter Sophia "garbage" after the girl behaved disrespectfully — the same thing Chua had been called as a child by her strict Chinese father. (See a TIME Q&A with Amy Chua.)

And, oh, yes, for some readers it was the card that young Lulu made for her mother's birthday. "I don't want this," Chua announced, adding that she expected to receive a drawing that Lulu had "put some thought and effort into." Throwing the card back at her daughter, she told her, "I deserve better than this. So I reject this."