A supporter of Gital weighs Rav Dovid Feinstein's psak vs Gital's NY Post article

Rena's comment to Rav Dovid Feinstein's psak

Not sure what to think. I know and love people on both sides of this. I also know this is not the first time a fight over a get has torn great people apart. I obviously lean towards Gital's side, and have since the beginning of this terrible mess. It seems to me to be too many rabbonim leaning towards her side to be discounted. I thought the blogs defending Avrohom Meir were wrong. 

But over the last few days, I have simply been shocked. The Post article, to me, was simply the wrong thing to do. No matter what. And it was so full of things that were misleading! The way it portrayed Gital as being up against the "untouchable Feinstein family" when I saw no advantage being given to her ex husband because of that. And making it sound like only he is a member of a powerful rabbinic family seemed a little strange. 

And the fact that most of the article is spent on attacking dating the way it is done in the frum world! But even then I figured it was done out of pain. And the fact that it blasted Orthodox dating and made the get sound like some kind of backwards ancient law I chalked up to the Post rewording the article. Maybe it was an interview that was twisted. And then I saw that the Dodelsons are running a campaign through a PR person! The Facebook page and the article, the whole thing, is calculated to look exactly the way it does! It made me start to question my position, though I admit I was not sure the whole time, just leaning heavily.

But now with Rav Dovid! My whole life I was told that there is one person who all the poskim in America listen to. And that's Rav Dovid. I know he can be looked at as nogea bedavar, but there isn't one posek in the world in this kind of thing that isn't nogea bedavar in some way. I just feel that if I had to choose who I should follow in this whole confusion, when everyone is twisting facts to their advantage, the one person I have always known for sure I can trust with my life and death shailos and my olam haba has to be Rav Dovid. Anyone who knows him even a little knows exactly what I mean. I'm sure what he wrote won't make a difference to most people who have dug in, especially not the modern orthodox or the poster on this blog who I can only refer to as the one with many names because he changes them to have conversations with him or herself, but for me it is enough to know that I have to wait and see before I just dismiss Avrohom Meir as a rasha.

 I hope that someone, maybe Rabbi Greenwald, maybe Rav Dovid, is given siyata dishmaya to resolve this. We in klal yisrael can't afford this anymore. May Hashem help us achieve achdus.

Why is the Iraqi Jewish archive being returned to Iraq?

NY Times    These are not the weapons of mass destruction that the American Mobile Exploitation Team Alpha was seeking in Iraq during the spring of 2003. But the books and manuscripts that the team found in a flooded basement of Saddam Hussein’s secret police headquarters — now on display for the first time at the National Archives here — look like victims of some form of ordnance.  

They are ragged, warped, torn, stained. And that is after extensive restoration. This new exhibition, “Discovery and Recovery: Preserving Iraqi Jewish Heritage,” presents just 24 artifacts (and some reproductions) selected from 2,700 volumes and tens of thousands of documents the American military found submerged in four feet of fetid water in the Mukhabarat, Iraq’s intelligence building. Those items, which had been collected by the Iraqi office investigating Israel and the Jews, span five centuries of Jewish life in Iraq. It took weeks for the American team to gather them, set them out to dry and ship them — in disarray and black with mold — to the National Archives. Much still awaits being restored and digitized at the archives’ laboratories in College Park, Md. 

Their condition, though, may be the least complicated thing about them. The flooding was caused by an unexploded coalition bomb — an accident of war. The mold was partly the result of the military rescuers’ inability to freeze the waterlogged material immediately, which would have halted decay. The costs of the restoration, overseen by the archives’ director of preservation, Doris Hamburg, have been mainly paid with $3 million from the State Department, which will return the materials to Iraq next year — as was agreed.

But that plan has touched a quivering nerve. Protests have been registered by Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, a Democrat, and other members of Congress; Iraqi Jews, now in other countries, have also been pressing for alternatives to the collection’s return. Passions are high, too, because the collection’s state of ruin is an uncanny representation of what happened to the Iraqi Jewish population itself. It had been the oldest Jewish diaspora in the world, arriving before the sixth century B.C. In 1940, Jews accounted for a quarter of Baghdad’s population; there were more than 130,000 Jews in Iraq. Now there is scarcely a handful. 
[...]

Rabbi finds $98k in used desk - returns it to its owner

Israeli Rabbinical Court Forcing Divorcée to Circumcise Son

 Jewish Press   A rabbinical court in Netanya this week forced a divorced woman to facilitate the performance of a Jewish circumcision for her son, Behadrei Haredim reported. 

During the divorce process, which Israeli Jews contest in rabbinical court, the husband requested that the regional rabbinical court in Netanya, about 20 miles north of Tel Aviv, to compel his wife to give their son a legal circumcision. The court accepted his request.

 The woman argued that the rabbinical court does not have jurisdiction over her son, and may not decide on what constitutes a dangerous medical procedure for him, especially since the boy is not a party to the divorce procedure. She argued that the authority to decide on this matter belongs exclusively in family court. But the rabbinical judges, Rabbis Michael Amos, Sheur Pardes and Ariel Yanai, rejected the woman’s argument and determined that when a couple is in a dispute over the treatment of their son, the dispute may be resolve either in family or in rabbinical court. 

 “The circumcision,” wrote the judges, “is a simple surgery which is conducted on every Jewish baby eight days or older, around the world, for thousands of years. Therefore, when one of the parents demands it, the other party may not prevent it unless a medical danger can be proven.”[...]

The woman argued that the rabbinical court does not have jurisdiction over her son, and may not decide on what constitutes a dangerous medical procedure for him, especially since the boy is not a party to the divorce procedure. She argued that the authority to decide on this matter belongs exclusively in family court. But the rabbinical judges, Rabbis Michael Amos, Sheur Pardes and Ariel Yanai, rejected the woman's argument and determined that when a couple is in a dispute over the treatment of their son, the dispute may be resolve either in family or in rabbinical court. "The circumcision," wrote the judges, "is a simple surgery which is conducted on every Jewish baby eight days or older, around the world, for thousands of years. Therefore, when one of the parents demands it, the other party may not prevent it unless a medical danger can be proven." The judges added: "The minor's entire educational construct depends on the performance of the Brit Milah-circumcision; therefore the mother's claim that the circumcision is unrelated the child's guardianship and education is refuted and rejected. "The circumcision is the sign, the mark, the distinguishing detail of the Jewish identity of every Jew wherever he may be, and whatever his spiritual state. An uncircumcised Jew's Jewish identity is incomplete and defective." Therefore, the mother's request was rejected and the court ordered her to have the circumcision be performed within seven days, or suffer a financial penalty. About the Author: Yori Yanover has been a working journalist since age 17, before he enlisted and worked for Ba'Machane Nachal. Since then he has worked for Israel Shelanu, the US supplement of Yedioth, JCN18.com, USAJewish.com, Lubavitch News Service, Arutz 7 (as DJ on the high seas), and the Grand Street News. He has published two fun books: The Cabalist's Daughter: A Novel of Practical Messianic Redemption, and How Would God REALLY Vote. © 2013 The Jewish Press. All rights reserved. Printed from: http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/israeli-rabbinical-court-forcing-divorcee-to-circumcise-son/2013/11/07/ Scan this QR code to visit this page online: Related posts: Guilty: Rabbi Motti Elon Convicted of Sexual Assault Women of the Wall Protesting Bennett’s High Holidays Plan Brave New Nation: 30 New Rabbinical Courts to Process Conversions Close

Read more at: http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/israeli-rabbinical-court-forcing-divorcee-to-circumcise-son/2013/11/07/0/?print

The woman argued that the rabbinical court does not have jurisdiction over her son, and may not decide on what constitutes a dangerous medical procedure for him, especially since the boy is not a party to the divorce procedure. She argued that the authority to decide on this matter belongs exclusively in family court. But the rabbinical judges, Rabbis Michael Amos, Sheur Pardes and Ariel Yanai, rejected the woman's argument and determined that when a couple is in a dispute over the treatment of their son, the dispute may be resolve either in family or in rabbinical court. "The circumcision," wrote the judges, "is a simple surgery which is conducted on every Jewish baby eight days or older, around the world, for thousands of years. Therefore, when one of the parents demands it, the other party may not prevent it unless a medical danger can be proven." The judges added: "The minor's entire educational construct depends on the performance of the Brit Milah-circumcision; therefore the mother's claim that the circumcision is unrelated the child's guardianship and education is refuted and rejected. "The circumcision is the sign, the mark, the distinguishing detail of the Jewish identity of every Jew wherever he may be, and whatever his spiritual state. An uncircumcised Jew's Jewish identity is incomplete and defective." Therefore, the mother's request was rejected and the court ordered her to have the circumcision be performed within seven days, or suffer a financial penalty. About the Author: Yori Yanover has been a working journalist since age 17, before he enlisted and worked for Ba'Machane Nachal. Since then he has worked for Israel Shelanu, the US supplement of Yedioth, JCN18.com, USAJewish.com, Lubavitch News Service, Arutz 7 (as DJ on the high seas), and the Grand Street News. He has published two fun books: The Cabalist's Daughter: A Novel of Practical Messianic Redemption, and How Would God REALLY Vote. © 2013 The Jewish Press. All rights reserved. Printed from: http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/israeli-rabbinical-court-forcing-divorcee-to-circumcise-son/2013/11/07/ Scan this QR code to visit this page online: Related posts: Guilty: Rabbi Motti Elon Convicted of Sexual Assault Women of the Wall Protesting Bennett’s High Holidays Plan Brave New Nation: 30 New Rabbinical Courts to Process Conversions Close

Read more at: http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/israeli-rabbinical-court-forcing-divorcee-to-circumcise-son/2013/11/07/0/?print

The real Jewish treasures of World War Two

BBC   A New York Times headline summed up one view of the missing art story: "Art trove a triumph over Nazism," it announced.

I wonder. For art historians, perhaps the sheer survival of these magnificent paintings is enough. 

But reading through some of the comments online, it seemed clear that some saw the story through a very different lens - another tale of Jewish wealth and privilege, as though every Jewish family in pre-war Europe owned a Picasso or a Matisse. And as though anyone who now came forward to claim ownership was greedily depriving the public of works that rightfully belonged in museums. 

So, maybe not such a triumph over Nazism after all?

The more I read, the more I found myself thinking about my own family's history. And my own obsessive interest in finding out what had survived the war - and what had been lost.

Weiss Dodelson: Rav Dovid Feinstein pasken's agreement to arbitration means R Avraham Meir Weiss can not be considered a mesarev or me'agen

This letter from Rav Dovid Feinstein son of Rav Moshe Feinstein is a comment on the letter from Rabbi Ronald Greenwald - who was selected by both Weiss and Dodalson families to arbitrate the get. Rav Feinstein states  - that despite the disagreement of whether there was a valid seruv against R Avraham Meir Weiss - the fact that they both went to Rabbi Greenwald to arbitrate the dispute removes him from that status according to everyone. The letter originally appeared on the blog of Rabbi Yudel Shain and a number of other places on the internet. I was assured by a member of the Feinstein family that the letter is genuine. 1     Facebook     Rabbi Yehuda Shain

Weiss-Dodelson: Rabbi Weiss defends family against daughter-in-law's NY Post article

Staten Island Advance    The patriarch of a prominent Staten Island Jewish family has had enough of their dirty laundry being aired in the media.

Rabbi Yosaif Asher Weiss of Prince's Bay defended his family against accusations by his estranged daughter-in-law, Gital Dodelson, who has taken her four-year battle for a religious divorce into the court of public opinion by posting on Facebook and other social media.

"Our family is horrified by the vitriol, lies and hate that permeate Gital's article," said  Rabbi Weiss, referring to an expose in the New York Post. "It is full of misinformation and outright fabrications, as well as untruths..." he alleges.

Rabbi Weiss is the father of Avrohom Meir Weiss, formerly of Staten Island, who now lives in New Jersey, as does his estranged wife.

"This is a very, very heart wrenching and ongoing dispute," a clearly upset Rabbi Weiss said in an exclusive interview with the Advance. "We've been trying desperately to resolve this for a long time. This has destroyed my family health wise and destroyed my family financially." [...]

Child abuse:Liason between police and chareidi community

The following is part of a long article in בתוך המשפחה November 7, 2013 page 38. It is an interview with Rav Asher Melamed - a charedi rabbi - who works as a liason between the police and charedi community. He describes the necessity of reporting abuse to the police and alternative ways of dealing with sex offenders within the secular system to minimize collateral damage. The full article dealing with abuse is a good introduction to child abuse and is recommended for those who know nothing and are hesitant to read about it. It deals with the topic in a very discrete way but gets the main point across clearly.

דברו: שומעים

תכלם, מה עושים כשנתקלים במקרה של פגיעה?

הכתבה עסקה רק בצד אחד של המטבע - הצד של הנפגע. בצד הזה אין  מקום לספק בדבר נחיצותה של ההתערבות הטיפולית.

אבל כשעוברים לדבר על הצד השני, על הפוגע, אנחנו מתחילים ללכת  על רצפת זכוכית. זו סוגיה נפיצה. אין ספק שמוכרחים לעצור את הפגיעה;  אין ספק שעצירת הפגיעה באמצעות עירוב גורמי החוק, תגרום להשלכות קשות מכל היבט על האדם עצמו, על בני משפחתו, על שמם ועל עתידם; אין  ספק שאי אפשר להניח לשיקולים כאלו להכתיב התעלמות שעלולה לגבות  מחירים נוספים ויקרים מדי. ומרוב שאין ספקות, יש הרבה מאוד ספקות.

מבחינת החוק היבש - אין מקום להתחבטויות: כל אדם שנחשף למקרה של  פגיעה בחסר ישע, חלה עליו חובת הדיווח לרשויות החוק - משטרת ישראל  או לשכת הרווחה. אי דיווח הוא עברה על החוק, שעונשה עד חצי שנת  מאסר. הרב נתאי מלמד מציין, שבמקרה של התלבטות אפשר להתייעץ עם  פקיד סעד בעילום שם. אבל כשהעובדות ברורות אסור, חוקית, להעלים עין.

מבחינת האיש ברחוב שנחשף למידע ואמור לדווח, כשלפעמים הדיווח  הזה עלול לפגוע באדם שמוכר לו אישית, המסקנות הן הרבה פחות נחרצות.  מעבר לרגש הטבעי שמסרב לגרום נזק לאדם קרוב ולבני משפחתו, קיימת  גם דילמת היום שאחרי - הדיווח עלול לגרור ענישה, בצורת כליאה או שיקום  במוסד חילוני, ואלו אפשרויות שאיש לא שמח לחשוב עליהן.

תוסיפו לזה את הרתיעה המובנית מגורמי החוק, ואת התקווה - או האשליה  - שתמיד מנסה לטעון שאולי אפשר לפתור את הבעיה בינינו לבין עצמנו,  ותקבלו מבוכה אמיתית.

הרב אשר מלמד, רב מחוז המרכז במשטרת ישראל, הוא אחד האישים  המרכזיים שפועלים בקו התפר הרגיש שבין הציבור החרדי לבין המשטרה.  הרב מלמד, בוגר ישיבת 'חברון' וכיום תושב העיר אלעד, חי בתוך ההוויה  החרדית ומודע לכל הרגישויות. מנגד, אליו מתנקזים הסיפורים העגומים  שמאחורי הסטטיסטיקות, סיפורים שמחייבים מציאת פתרון. המטרה שלו היא ליצור גשר בין העולמות, שיאפשר תקשורת הדדית תקינה.

"כחברה חרדית," אומר הרב מלמד, "אנחנו חייבים להוקיע מתוכנו אנשים  שפוגעים בילדים או בכל חסר ישע, ונכון להיום, הגורם היחיד שיכול לשמש  גורם הרתעה וענישה הוא משטרת ישראל.

"התפקיד שלי הוא להתאים את הטיפול המשטרתי הייחודי לטובת  הציבור. אנחנו לא ממציאים חוק חדש, אבל כן פועלים להתאים את הטיפול המשטרתי למאפיינים הייחודיים של החברה שלנו".

איך נעשית ההתאמה הזו?

בכמה דרכים. קודם כל, לא בכל מקרה יביא הדיווח להליך משפטי. הרב  מלמד מספר לנו על אופציה אחרת. "קיימת אפשרות לפנות לפקיד סעד, שישקול היתכנות של שיקום התא המשפחתי כחלופה לטיפול משטרתי.  אם קיימת היתכנות כזו, הוא יכול להפנות את המקרה לוועדת פטור", הוא  אומר. "מדובר בוועדה שמורכבת מנציגים של המשטרה, של הפרקליטות  ושל הרווחה. בהתאם לנסיבות של המקרה המסוים, וכאשר יש סיכוי להליך  שיקום חילופי, יש לוועדה סמכות לפטור מחובת הדיווח למשטרה.

"המשמעות המעשית של הפטור היא שלא נפתח תיק פלילי ואין מאסר.

הפטור קצוב בזמן, ותלוי בהליך השיקום שהוועדה עוקבת אחריו".

גם כשהמקרה עובר לפסים נעימים פחות, יפעל הרב מלמד לרכך את  ההתרחשות. "כדי למנוע את הרחבת מעגל הנפגעים מעבר לפוגע עצמו",  הוא אומר. "נערוך מעצר מבוקר בצורה דיסקרטית, לפעמים תוך תיאום עם  סמכות רוחנית, ונימנע מפרסום המקרה".

נוסף על כך, הרב מלמד פועל להצבת חוקר חרדי בכל תחנת משטרה, כדי  ליצור שפה משותפת ואווירה מתאימה לשיתוף פעולה. במקביל, נעשית עבודה גם בקרב שורות המשטרה. הרב מלמד מעביר הרצאות בכל הקורסים הבכירים, ומעניק לשוטרים כלים להכיר את הציבור החרדי, להבין את  הרגישויות שלו, ולדעת איך לפעול מולו בצורה נכונה ומתחשבת.

כל הפעילות הזו נעשית בתיאום צמוד עם רבנים מכל גוני הציבור החרדי,  ושיתוף הפעולה הזה כבר הוביל לכמה פריצות דרך.

למקרה של שאלה או בקשת סיוע, מציע הרב מלמד את אוזנו הקשובה ואת  עזרתו. ניתן לפנות אליו בכתובת הדוא"ל: rav.melamed@gmail.com .הוא  נמצא שם כדי לכוון, לייעץ ולסייע.

Weiss Dodelson: Dodelson's PR consultant uses internet instead of negotiations

The following is the missing link that explains why the Dodelson's are using articles in newspapers and internet rather than sticking to arbitration. They seem to think that they can pound the opposition into submission by a clever use of social media. However they seem to be oblivious to the reality that when you invite the whole world to "like" what you are doing - that the tide can easily turn against you and you end up creating an incredible chilul hashem. Which is what has happened since the publication of the letter of Rav Dovid Feinstein yesterday. It is time for the Dodelson's to stop playing internet games and settle down to the hard decisions to give Gital her get.

 ==============================

 Times of Israel    Gital Dodelson and her ongoing fight to convince her husband Avrohom Meir Weiss to give her a get, or Jewish decree of divorce, made international headlines this week after a widely read recent New York Post article. 

Like that of most women in her situation, the story of her struggle isn’t one likely to attract traditional press attention. Luckily, it went viral first on social media.

 

Luck has nothing to do with it, says public relations professional Shira Dicker.

Dicker, who calls herself “an innovative social agitator,” says she planned from the start to use Facebook and other social media platforms to gain initial public interest for Dodelson’s situation.

One of Dicker’s clients connected her last July to Dodelson’s mother Saki, of Lakewood, New Jersey, who informed her of her daughter’s plight. Four-and-a-half years ago, Gital, now 25, married Weiss, the great-grandson of leading Orthodox rabbinical authority Moshe Feinstein, after being set up by a matchmaker.

For Dicker, Dodelson is more than just a client.

“This is a cause,” Dicker says. “I saw what this girl was up against, and I also saw the tremendous opportunity, the celebrity endorsement aspect,” she said, referring to the potential impact this particular campaign could have for other agunot.

Dicker is grateful to the Dodelsons for giving her “creative license” to use cutting-edge tools in the campaign to free Gital.

Supporters of Weiss family respond to the chilul hashem in the NY Post

Update: Letter from Rav Dovid Feinstein son of Rav Reuven Feinstein

kikar hashabat

סיפור הגירושין הכואב שמסעיר את יהדות ארה"ב ומכתבה של הגברת גיטל דודלסון בעיתון הנפוץ ניו יורק פוסט שפורסם במלואו בכיכר השבת - ממשיכים לגרום לטלטלה ציבורית משמעותית.

חלק מהקוראים מצדדים בדבריה של האשה, כאשר חלק נוסף דווקא טוענים כי היא עשתה מעשה חמור בהוצאת הסיפור לתקשורת האמריקאית הכללית, תוך גרימת חילול השם גדול. 

הערב, מביא 'כיכר השבת' את גרסת בני משפחתו של הבעל - אברהם ווייס, כשהם רואים את הסיפור הקשה באופן שונה לחלוטין.

לדבריהם, בשנים האחרונות אברהם מאיר ווייס ואשתו גיטל עברו תקופה קשה וכואבת כשלצערם הצד השני בחר להוציא את הסיפור לתקשורת, וכחלק מהקמפיין אותו הם מנהלים - הם מוציאים את דיבתו של הבעל רעה וטוענים כאילו והוצא נגדו כתב סירוב וטענות שקריות נוספות. "על כן אנו נאלצים להשיב ולספר את האמת עם תיעוד תומך בעובדות, כפי שהן מוצגות על ידינו

[...]".

The attitude of ORA and its rabbis to marriage

Guest post by Rick     Under Jewish law and tradition, leaving a marriage is a grave matter, and should not be done absent serious cause. Yet, some in the Orthodox community seem to have adopted the worst aspects of the 1960s counterculture's attitude towards family and marriage.

If a marriage is irretrievably broken, the parties should work out all issues in good faith, including a get, with the involvement of a beis din if the parties cannot work out a mutually acceptable agreement. It is one thing to dispute under which circumstances a get is appropriate, and, if so, what measures are appropriate to coerce a spouse into giving or receiving a get. It is quite another to assert, as does ORA, that a get is appropriate and that k’fia [coercion], whether with or without [shotim] force, is appropriate in all cases in which one spouse wants out of a marriage. ORA’s position completely contradicts accepted Jewish law and practice over many centuries. [Although in fairness to Rabbi Stern, it should be noted that he has previously claimed that the one exception from his rule that a get must always be given upon demand is if a wife steals one million dollars (as opposed to one child) and runs off Daas Torah 2012/05/ora-1-million-dollars-vs-1-child

But the problem goes far deeper than that. ORA and its supporters are not just trying to overturn centuries of Jewish Law and practice over what is appropriate once a marriage is irretrievably broken, but also under what circumstances it is proper for someone to leave a marriage in the first place. ORA’s position is not just that a woman should receive a get whenever she demands it, but that it is perfectly legitimate and appropriate for a woman to leave a marriage, regardless of whether there are children, for any reason at all.

“Man,” Rabbi Stern said, as though addressing such a fellow [who doesn’t give a get on demand]. “She’s just not that into you.”

The Daily Beast 2013/11/04/for-orthodox-women-getting-the-get-can-take-years

Or as Gitel Dodelson wrote in the New York Post, “I said: ‘You’re not a bad man. We’re just not right for each other.’ …. ‘This isn’t working, I’m moving back to my parents.’ I packed up [the couple’s child] right then and there, and drove off.”

The message of ORA to married women is if you decide at any point that “you are just not that into him” just leave and take the children to wherever you please. Is that also the position of Rabbi Hershel Schachter and ORA’s other rabbinical supporters? And for that matter, is that also the position of the roshei yeshiva who have joined side-by-side with ORA in support of Dodelson?

The Bizarre phenomenon of Sleep - why do we need it?

Scientific American     Sleep is such a large feature of our lives that it’s easy to forget how utterly weird it is. Every night, if we’re lucky, our brain cells switch into a synchronized pattern, putting our lives and minds on hold for hours. Sleep scientists have yet to fully explain why we spend a third of our lives in this state, let alone why we use some of that time wandering through vivid, nonsensical and sometimes upsetting hallucinations.

A recent study in Science suggests that sleep may serve to wash the brain of harmful waste products that build up during the day. Medical researchers observed an increased flow of cerebrospinal fluid in mice that were sleeping or anesthetized. This fluid carries away waste proteins, including one linked to Alzheimer’s disease. The findings join other theories on the function of sleep, some of which I discuss above, in our latest Instant Egghead video.