Leading Rabbi Deals Big Blow To Agunah Court

jewishweek.timesofisrael

In its first year, the New York-based International Beit Din (IBD), headed by Rabbi Simcha Krauss, a widely respected rabbi here and in Israel, has resolved nearly 20 cases of agunot, chained women, freeing them from their loveless marriages.

In doing so, it has incurred the condemnation of some leading rabbinic authorities, most notably, and recently, Rabbi Hershel Schachter, a leading rosh yeshiva at Yeshiva University’s rabbinical school, who last month penned a public letter of protest dismissing the court’s collective rulings and pronouncing Rabbi Krauss unfit to make complex decisions regarding agunot.

prominent-orthodox-rabbi-condemns-vaccines-as-a-hoax

forward

One of the country’s most prominent ultra-Orthodox rabbis has condemned vaccines as a “hoax” in an interview with a local Jewish newspaper.

“I see vaccinations as the problem,” Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetzky told the Baltimore Jewish Times in a story published in late August. “It’s a hoax. Even the Salk [polio] vaccine is a hoax. It’s just big business.”

Sweeping gene survey reveals new facets of evolution

phys.org/news

Who would have suspected that a handheld genetic test used to unmask sushi bars pawning off tilapia for tuna could deliver deep insights into evolution, including how new species emerge?

And who would have thought to trawl through five million of these gene snapshots—called "DNA barcodes"—collected from 100,000 animal species by hundreds of researchers around the world and deposited in the US government-run GenBank database?

War Breaks Out in New York’s ultra-Orthodox Community Over Measles Outbreak

.haaretz

Unique aspects of Haredi culture have led to an anti-vaxxer movement developing in the community. As senior rabbis issue contradictory rulings, medical experts are using informal gatherings to try to spread the word about the importance of vaccinations

NEW MAMZERUS CASE

COURT CONVICTS SAFED RABBI OF SEX OFFENSES

j post

The rabbi, a renowned yeshiva head from Safed, was originally indicted in July 2015 on 12 charges of sexual offenses including rape, sodomy and indecent assault.

BROOKLYN

from nov 5 to nov 20 i will be staying in Boro Park visiting family

Trump’s new immigration ad was panned as racist. Turns out it was also based on a falsehood.

washington post

The expletive-filled advertisement President Trump released this week, seemingly to raise fears about immigration in advance of the midterm elections, was widely denounced, with Democrats and even some Republicans criticizing it as racist.

But beyond the outrage, the ad was also reportedly based on a falsehood.

The 53-second video focuses on the courtroom behavior of Luis Bracamontes, an undocumented immigrant who was convicted of killing two sheriff’s deputies in California in 2014 and bragged about it during the trial.

“Democrats let him into our country,” the ad’s script reads. “Democrats let him stay.”

Just one problem: It doesn’t appear to be true.

Bracamontes, who had been deported multiple times before his crime rampage, appears to have last entered the country while George W. Bush was president, sometime between May 2001 and February 2002, when there is a record for his marriage in Arizona, according to the Sacramento Bee.

MISHPETEI YISROEL

daas Torah.


Book is Mishpitei Yisroel signed by Gedolim Rav Nisim Karelits, RavShmuel Orebach, Rav Chaim Kanieveski, Rab Shimon Bedni, RavChaim Mayer HaLevi Wosner, Reb Noson Kupshits, Rab Moshe Zev Zurger, Rav Shmuel HaLevi Wosner, and Reb Yitschok Tuvia Weiss most from the past generation.

Rabbi Dovid Eidensohn

 

Rav Kook & Rav Elyashiv

jewish action

Specifically, most published accounts of his life disregard, or perhaps suppress, the many connections he had with the first chief rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Abraham Isaac HaCohen Kook. Furthermore, his close relationship with Rav Kook’s successor, Rabbi Isaac HaLevi Herzog, and the several decades during which he served as a judge in the Court of the Chief Rabbinate, are mentioned only in passing in accounts of his life—if not totally overlooked.

Pence sets off firestorm with campaign prayer by 'Christian rabbi'

.nbcnews.

Vice President Mike Pence was roundly criticized on Monday for appearing at a campaign rally in Michigan at which a Messianic rabbi invoked Jesus in mourning the deaths of 11 people at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh.

Rabbi Horowitz Reports on the Outcome of Today's Trail

Dear Friends:

`Thank you all for your interest, support and encouragement regarding this bizarre defamation lawsuit taking place in Israel over the past three years. Here is a short summary of today’s events in the Jerusalem courthouse. 

Many people attended today’s hearing to express their support for the safety and well-being of Israeli children. In fact, the judge actually delayed the start of the hearing so the staff could look for a larger courtroom, but none was available. As a result, lots of the people who came were unfortunately not able to fit in the courtroom. 

This was in stark contrast to Weinberg’s 2009 original trial in Brooklyn (that conviction earned Weinberg his sex offender status). Back then, Weinberg had 200 people backing him in court every day of the trial and 90 letters of support from prominent community members, which was noted in the stinging rebuke delivered by the Judge at the time of sentencing https://jewishweek.timesofisrael.com/judge-lashes-out-at-orthodox-community-in-sex-abuse-case-says-it-protects-abusers-not-victims/.  

In this two-steps-forward-one-step-back march to a safer world for our children, it is important that we note and take encouragement from the extraordinary shift in attitude our community has had in the past nine years — where we now are almost universally supporting the victims and insisting that the abusers who destroy their lives are punished to the fullest extent of the law. 

Weinberg and I were both cross examined by the opposing attorneys for over two hours — with the questions directly addressing (read: attacking) points we each raised in the various affidavits we had previously submitted. 

Weinberg and I were both cross examined by the opposing attorneys for over two hours — with the questions directly addressing (read: attacking) points we each raised in the various affidavits we had previously submitted. 

Again, on behalf of our children, thanks for your support of efforts to make the world a safer place for them. 

Yakov