Briskman case: Reasons to refuse to give Get

Washington Post

Yisrael Briskman’s wife in Israel wanted a divorce, and a rabbinical court decided she should be granted one. But Briskman refused and fled to the United States, where the FBI says an Orthodox Jewish rabbi and his wife lured him to their New Jersey home, kidnapped him and said they’d bury him alive in the Pocono Mountains if he didn’t relent.

Briskman said he was kicked repeatedly in the ribs at the home in Lakewood, robbed and shown the dark body bag he’d soon inhabit if he didn’t free his wife from their marital bonds.

“For you to get used to the size,” Rabbi David Wax is quoted as saying in the criminal complaint leading to his surrender to the FBI this month.

If this Sopranos-style plot is true — which the Waxes deny — it is an anomaly. But it’s not uncommon for religious communities to use coercive tactics to pressure recalcitrant husbands into granting their wives a “get,” or religious divorce. Tactics run the gamut from denying social and religious privileges to using financial and legal leverage. [...]

Should sperm & egg donors remain anonymous?

Time   link fixed

Traditionally, the identities of egg and sperm donors have been tightly guarded secrets, numbers with no names attached, making it difficult for their biological offspring to ever make contact. Today, that changes as Washington becomes the first state to chip away at that anonymity, with a controversial new law that guarantees children conceived with gametes from Washington sperm banks and egg donation agencies access -- when they're 18 -- to their donors' medical histories and their full names— unless the donors specifically opt out of being identified.


Although Washington doesn't go as far as Sweden, Austria or the United Kingdom, which abolished anonymous donations, it's still a significant step for many parents of donor-conceived children who yearn to answer that question most kids ask at one time or another: where did I come from?

“It's a good step in the right direction,” says Jennifer McCarty, a Seattle mom of a donor-conceived 3-year-old daughter and an adopted 4-year-old son. “As a parent, I want to be able to provide a way for them to find out who they are and dig into their origins."[...]

Aguda attempts to clarify views on reporting child abuse to police

 There are couple of unclarified issues 1) what does the rabbi do that necessitates asking permission. Is this a question of psak or of objectivity. If it a question of rodef there is no need for a psak and if it objectivity then why is a rabbi considered more objective than non rabbis. 2) what happens when there is mandated reporting and the rabbi says not to report it 3) where does rodef enter here - it was declared to be an unnecessary concept at the Aguda Conference. 4) What do you do when the  rabbi you consulted says not to report to the police but you feel otherwise?

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Cross-Currents--by Rabbi Avi Shafran

Agudath Israel of America has received several inquiries in the wake of misleading claims that have recently been made about our stance on reporting suspected child abusers to law enforcement authorities. We take the opportunity to clarify our position.

As Torah Jews we live our live our lives in accordance with halacha. The question of whether and under what circumstances one is halachically permitted or required to report to the authorities suspicions of child abuse (including sexual molestation) has attracted the attention of a number of our generation’s most prominent rabbinic authorities. Many of their responsa have been collected in the respected Torah journal Yeshurun, Volumes 15 and 22.

As elaborated at a recent Halacha Conference sponsored by Agudath Israel of America, these responsa make clear that when certain standards have been met it is not only permitted but in fact obligatory to report suspicions of abuse or molestation. The general principles that emerge from these responsa are as follows:

1. Where there is “raglayim la’davar” (roughly, reason to believe) that a child has been abused or molested, the matter should be reported to the authorities. In such situations, considerations of “tikun ha’olam” (the halachic authority to take steps necessary to “repair the world”), as well as other halachic concepts, override all other considerations.[...]

IDF general causes storm after calling to curtail religiosity in army

YNet

The former Israel Defense Forces Human Resources head called on the army to halt its tendency to religious extremism and renegotiate the relationship between secular and religious soldiers. 

Avi Zamir, who finished his tenure a month ago, sent Chief of Staff Benny Gantz and his General Staff colleagues a letter concluding his tenure at Human Resources. In the document, which spans nearly 30 pages, he details the struggle between the Education Corps and the Military Rabbinate, and says rabbinic demands for modesty undermine the standing of female officers and soldiers.[...]

Couple Sues a Vermont Inn for Rejecting Gay Wedding

NYTimes

A lesbian couple is suing a Vermont inn, claiming it refused to host their fall wedding reception because of their sexual orientation. 

Kate Baker and Ming Linsley filed the suit on Tuesday in Vermont Superior Court, accusing the Wildflower Inn of Lyndonville of abruptly turning them away after learning they are lesbians.

They claim the inn violated Vermont’s Fair Housing and Public Accommodations Act, which prohibits inns, hotels, motels and other establishments with five or more rooms from turning away patrons based on sexual orientation. The law makes an exemption for religious organizations.[...]

Tragedy In Borough Park Puts Shomrim Under Scrutiny

Jewish Week

As the Borough Park community struggles with the brutal murder of 8-year-old Leiby Kletzky, and as more information surfaces about the history and emotional state of his accused killer, the tragedy is shining a light on the neighborhood watch groups that operate within the strictly Orthodox communities — and the largely under-the-surface tensions between these groups and the NYPD.

Those tensions became more apparent in recent days as sources in the community and the NYPD expressed frustration with how the Shomrim (Hebrew for “guardians”) operate – however well intentioned – with little accountability, sometimes hindering the work of the police.

The heartbreaking outcome in the Leiby case is seen by some in these circles as a dramatic case in point.

The Shomrim, who respond to calls about everything from vandalism to missing persons, domestic violence and sexual abuse, are highly respected in their communities. While they don’t have the power to make arrests, they tend to be trusted more than police in these tight-knit communities, as they have a reputation for responding quickly to calls and taking care of their own.

They have also been criticized at times for overzealousness bordering on vigilantism. [...]

Molestation investigation shuts private school

Sacramento Bee

For some observers, the case evoked memories of the notorious McMartin preschool trial of the 1980s. The McMartin family operated a preschool in Southern California, and seven people initially were charged with numerous acts of sexual abuse of children in their care. 

Years of criminal trials produced no convictions, and all charges were dropped in 1990. 

The case was spawned by a mother who told police that her son had been sodomized at the school, and the allegations grew from there. Police sent a letter to about 200 parents of students at the McMartin school, asking them to question their children about abuse. Critics have said that children were asked leading questions, some of which produced bizarre accusations including travels in hot air balloons and trips through secret tunnels.

Segula for husband to be boss - and why not to use it

Briefly the following is taken from Minhag Yisroel Torah. There is a segula for the husband to be the boss of the family mentioned in Chesed L'Avraham. The chasan should step with his right foot on his wife's left foot. If he fails to do so she will be the boss.

However the Chemdas Shaul says that in fact experience shows that the family functions best -both spiritually and psychologically - when the wife runs the household. In fact Avraham was told to listen to his wife and they had a very successful househould

מנהג ישראל תורה (חלק ד' עמוד קצא): כתב בספר חסד לאברהם מעין ריביעי נהר מ"ח (הו"ד במדרש תלפיטות ענפ חתן וכלה) שאם החתן נזהר לשים רגלו הימינית על רגל הכלה השמאלית בשעת ז' ברכות מסוגל שישלוט עלי' כל ימיו ונשמעת לכל דבריו ולהיפך היא תשלוט עליו כל ימיה והביא שם ענין לבטל הסגולה עי"ש, ובס' זכירה כתב דיש אומרים דאחר החופה כשישב אצל הכלה יעשה כן, אולם בשו"ת חמדת שאול (מהג' מו"ה שואל ראזענבערגער אבד"ק ראצפערטא) סימן מ"ג אחר שדן בעינן סגולה זו דאין היתר לעשות כן אם היא נדה הוא מסיים וז"ל, ובגוף הסגולה לא ראיתי נוהגין כן וישראל קדושים הן מקיימין תמים תהי' עם ה' אלקיך ואין עושין שום סגולות רק מה שירצה הקב"ה יעשה, והגם שאין לי עסק בנסתרות מ"מ מצינו בביתו של אאע"ה שהי' מתנהג עפ"י אשתו שרה שא"ל כל אשר תאמר אליך שרה שמע בקולה, ואעפ"כ ביתו הי' מלא חסדים גמורים, והנסיון מלמדנו שברוב הבתים של המון עם הבית מתנהג בכשרות ויראת ה' רק ע"י האשה והיא שולטת בבעלה להדריכו ג"כ בדרך ישרה ואשה יראת ה' היא תתהלל ע"כ אין מוכרח שיותר טוב להתנהג הבית ע"י האיש, והרבה פעמים האשה מונעת הבעל מלבוא לידי עבירה, ואותם הגדולים והצדיקים שכתבו לעשות סגולה כדי שיתנהג הבית ע"י האיש בשכמותם דברו ואין מביאין מהם ראי' ע"כ.

Alleged kidnappers of Meir Briskman surrender to FBI

Haaretz SEE PREVIOUS POSTS Meir Briskman refuses to divorce wife  Meir Briskman assaulted in Lakewood

A New Jersey couple surrendered themselves to the FBI on Monday, and were subsequently charged with abducting an Israeli man last year.

The FBI says the couple abducted the man, beat him and threatened to bury him alive if he didn't grant his wife a religious divorce.

Federal authorities say the victim had refused to give his wife a ‘get,’ or a divorce sanctioned by the Rabbinical Court, preventing her from remarrying. The man also fought for custody of the children, and moved from Israel to New York.[...]

Sexual abuse by internet hacker

YNet

A central Israel resident in his 20s was detained on suspicion of hacking the computers of US girls and threatening to circulate their intimate photos, unless they perform indecent acts on their webcam.

The story was cleared for publication Thursday. 

Almost 100 girls aged 12 to 17 were allegedly victimized by the suspect. He is believed to have hacked their computers, seeking embarrassing photographs and later approaching them on online social networks and threatening them.

Yadeinu Shafchu Es Hadam Hazeh

Cross Currents - Rabbi Adlerstein

After the horror, the disbelief, the shock, the emptiness, I next thought what many others must have. He had to have been a pedophile. I messaged a colleague, a respected rov, and asked what he thought. I will post it anonymously; I haven’t gotten to him yet to ask to use his name: I am sure he was, and I am sure he molested many others, and i am sure that there were people that knew and hushed it. It is time to forever bury the myth that reports of pedophilia can be managed and dealt with by committees of rabbonim, even for a short time. It is time to bury the myth that there is a serious halachic barrier to going to authorities to deal with credible reports of such behavior. Enough baalei halacha have told us that there is no barrier. Choshen Mishpat 358:12 tells us that those who vex the public can be handed over. Any pedophile does at least that, and poses a danger of doing much more. Moreover, mesirah of a molester exposes him to a safek of danger; pedophiles pose a much greater danger level to many more victims.[...]

Haredi entertainer convicted of indecent acts

YNET

The Jerusalem Magistrates Court on Tuesday convicted haredi entertainer David Bruckner of indecent acts against a 12-year-old boy. 

Bruckner was arrested in January 2010 over suspicions that he committed indecent acts against a 12-year-old. At the end of the investigation into the case he was indicted for four counts of indecent acts.