Self-Converted Ugandan "Jews"

History of Ugandan "Jews" (click this link)

Obamacare - Myth & Facts /CBS News

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Mary Robinson's Medal of Freedom

Wall Street Journal

Barack Obama's decision to award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Mary Robinson has generated unexpected but emotionally charged opposition. Appointed by then-U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan as high commissioner for human rights in 1997-2002, Ms. Robinson had a controversial but ineffective tenure. (Previously, she was president of Ireland, a ceremonial position.)

Criticism of Mr. Obama's award, to be officially bestowed tomorrow, has centered on Ms. Robinson's central organizing role as secretary general of the 2001 "World Conference Against Racism" in Durban, South Africa. Instead of concentrating on its purported objectives, Durban was virulently anti-Semitic, anti-Israel, and at least implicitly anti-American.

So vile was the conference's draft declaration that Secretary of State Colin Powell correctly called it "a throwback to the days of 'Zionism equals racism,'" referring to the infamous 1975 U.N. General Assembly resolution to that effect. President George W. Bush (whose father led the 1991 campaign that repealed the U.N.'s "Zionism is a form of racism" resolution) unhesitatingly agreed when Mr. Powell recommended the U.S. delegation leave the Durban conference rather than legitimize the outcome.

Ms. Robinson didn't see it that way then, and she has shown no remorse since. In late 2002, she described Durban's outcome as "remarkably good, including on the issues of the Middle East." [...]

Chasidic cop's undercover drug sting

Forward

A few months ago, Israeli police planning a sting were hard-pressed to find a convincing small-time dealer who could buy large quantities of drugs without arousing suspicion. In the end, they settled on a novel solution: a Hasidic man who would claim he was buying for students at his yeshiva.

The case ended up netting the arrests of 15 men in the Israeli town of Lod. The arrested will face trial next month on charges of possession and supply of illegal substances. The operation was given the name Ketoret Samim, a double entendre referring both to drugs in modern Hebrew and to a talmudic mixing of incense in ancient Hebrew. The operation's success was thanks to footage recorded from cameras secreted in the long black coat of Shlomo Treitel, a 34-year-old Hasid from Netanya who is a community police officer.

"My wife didn't know what I was doing, but when I told her, she said that she knows I'm guided by our rebbe, so I won't come to any harm," he told the Forward.

On some 30 occasions, and spending $14,000 altogether, Treitel went to dealers in Lod, notorious for its Arab-controlled drug trading. He bought hard and soft drugs. His story was that the students in his yeshiva were ba'alei teshuvah (secular Jews who have turned to more observant lives), and he had come to the conclusion that he could well cash in on their habits by becoming a small-scale dealer. [...]

Rav Wozner - informing on tax cheats

Rav Wozner(Shevet HaLevi 2:58):Concerning someone who works for the tax department and he discovers someone cheating the government and is required by law to report it to the justice department. He wants to know whether he is considered an informer (moser) according to halacha or do we say that “the law of the land is the law” and thus he would not be an informer? Answer: Concerning the issues of taxes – there is no halachic authority who denies that this is included in the principle “the law of the land is the law.” This is true even for those who disagree with the Rema (C.M. 369:8) as to the nature of “the law of the land is the law.” See the Shach and Levush and the responsa Hashiv Moshe… Concerning the issue of reporting the tax cheat to the government see Bava Metzia (83b) concerning R’ Eliezer the son of Rav Shimon bar Yochai. The gemora reports that he reported thieves to the government. This is proof that where the government has authorized a Jew to report thieves that it is permitted. Even though he was criticized “how long are you handing the people of our G‑d to be killed” – because the punishment for thieves in those days was death. This is relevant also for a similar criticism from Eliyahu Hanavi to R’ Yishmael which is reported in that gemora. However the actual halacha seems that even when it results in the death penalty it is considered “the law of the land is the law.” See the Ritva on that gemora which is found in the Shita Mekubetzes. The Be’er HaGola (C.M. 388) writes that it has already become accepted practice that the leaders of the community supervise that there should not be any fraud or deception against the secular government. The community leaders have announced that it was permitted to publicize and reveal those men who were cheating the government. A person who wishes to escape paying taxes owed to the government and another Jew reveals this – this is not considered the crime of informing. Even though the Rema states that revealing this information is bad because it is like returning a lost object to a non‑Jew – but that is only concerning an individual non‑Jew. But that which is applicable to the government and the tax auditor was appointed to discover fraud – there is no prohibition in revealing the fraud. However it is best if a person should not work as a tax auditor which requires revealing this type of information. Even though revealing the information is permitted – it is not a pious thing to do as we see from the Yerushalmi. Also look at the Responsa of the Alshech who states that a person is not considered an informant for those things required by the law of the land….

Economy - raising $12 Trillion debt cap

Mesira to preserve and protect a just society

R' Breitowitz has an excellent shiur concerning the natue of mesira and its relevance when a just government is involved (Aruch HaShulchan) or the laws are more severe than the Torah (Rav Moshe Feinstein) and its connection to dina demalchusa dina (Rav Wosner) and the need for laws for the well being of society.

Judge rules against rabbi's widow in Torahs case

LATimes April 9, 2009

A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge has thrown out a religious court's decision to award four disputed Torahs to an Orthodox rabbi's widow who claimed that the scrolls had been stolen by her late husband's assistant.

The religious court, known in Hebrew as a beis din, ruled in January that the four Torahs belonged to Rita Pauker of North Hollywood. The scrolls had been in the care of her late husband's assistant, Rabbi Samuel Ohana, for more than a decade.

Pauker argued that a handwritten agreement between her late husband, Norman, and Ohana proved that the scrolls were lent to Ohana for only two years. Ohana maintained that Rabbi Pauker gave the Torahs to Ohana's Sherman Oaks congregation in 1998 after Pauker's own synagogue closed.

After the religious court ruled, Ohana refused to turn over the Torahs to Pauker. Instead, he appealed to a higher court in Israel. Pauker, meanwhile, took the case to the civil court system in Los Angeles, seeking to enforce the local religious court's ruling.

On Monday, Superior Court Judge Zaven V. Sinanian ruled in Ohana's favor based on what he believed may have been a conflict for one of the three religious judges, Rabbi Nachum Sauer.[...]

The severe sin of going to a non-Jewish court II

Shulchan Aruch(C.M. 26:1): It is prohibited to have a non‑Jewish court make judgments in a dispute between Jews. This is so even if they make judgments based on Jewish law and even if the litigants agree to accept their judgment. Who ever used the non‑Jewish court is a rasha (wicked person). It is as if he has denigrated the Torah of Moshe. Rema: The Jewish court has the right to excommunicate and ostracize those who utilize the authority of non‑Jews. Similarly there can be various punishments enacted against someone who goes to a non‑Jewish court – until they retract….

Shulchan Aruch(C.M. 26:2): If the non‑Jews are the controlling power and the litigant is powerful in his own right and therefore the person can not recover what is his by the authority of the Jewish court – he should first summon his opponent to the Jewish court. If his opponent refuses to go – he should obtain permission from the Jewish court and then use the non‑Jewish court to recover what is his from his opponent. Rema: The Jewish court has the right to go to the non‑Jewish court and to testify that one person owes the other money. All this is only if one of the litigants refuses to obey the Jewish court. Otherwise it is prohibited for a Jewish court to give authorization for Jews to have their dispute presented to a non‑Jewish court

The severe sin of going to a non-Jewish court I

Rabbeinu Bachye (Shemos 21:1): Even though the sin of murder is serious, but the sins of stealing and profaning G‑d’s name (chilul Hashem) are even more severe than it. That is because a murderer is forgiven when he repents as we saw concerning Caine. However repentance doesn’t erase the sin of stealing because it is first necessary to return what was stolen. If it isn’t returned then the thief is never forgiven. Similarly with chilul HaShem – repentance doesn’t help because it is a more serious crime then kerisus or capital punishment. Our Sages (Yoma 86a) say that if a person does a sin punishable by kerisus or capital punishment and he repents that the combination of repentance and Yom Kippur initiates while suffering completes the process of atonement of the sin…However a person who has committed chilul Hashem, then repentance and Yom Kippur as well as suffering do nothing. His sin is only atoned through his death. Thus these two sins of theft and chilul Hashem are more serious than murder and both are included in the sin of going to a non‑Jewish court to adjudicate disputes. Chilul HaShem is included because it is unquestionably a profanation of G‑d’s name by giving honor to idolaters and glory to non‑Jews by using their services…. Theft is involved since by ignoring Torah laws and winning a judgment in a non-Jewish court it is complete theft. However the winner of the dispute doesn’t view himself as a thief and therefore he doesn’t return what he won. Consequently he is never forgiven.

Marranos: Split Identity and Modernity

Forward - Review of "The Other Within" by Yimiyahu Yovel

[...] Most Marranos initially took on Christianity as a superficial skin, but they could not keep up the pretense, year in, year out, of going to church and confession, venerating saints, without internalizing some of its beliefs. Similarly, they may have intended to stay loyal to Judaism, but it was impossible to practice a religion only partially, and in secret, without losing most of its essence.

The result, he says, was that most Marranos practiced a hybrid religion. "Judaizers" consciously tried to preserve elements of Judaism, often passed down through the women of the house who became quasi-rabbis, or gleaned, ironically, from lists of Jewish beliefs published by the Inquisition for informers. But while they may have lit Sabbath candles in secret, only pretended to eat the ubiquitous Iberian pork or mentally annulled their actions in church, theological confusion abounded. For example, Judaizers believed that Judaism was the true path "to salvation." The intent may have been Jewish, but the framing theology — salvation — was Catholic. Similarly, the Marranos had a patron saint: Queen Esther, herself a hidden Jew.

At the other end of the spectrum, Marranos who accepted their new Christian faith were still influenced by their Jewish background. The Inquisition records show Marranos who preferred to baptize their children on a Saturday, because of their “affection” for the day, and New Christian monks who, because they had a clinging distrust of the polytheistic or idolatrous beliefs these practices implied, rejected the Trinity and disdained the sacrament, without intending to return to Judaism. [...]

Brain injury and identity

NYTimes

Adam Lepak looked over at his mother and said, "You're fake."

It was a Tuesday in July, late, and Cindy Lepak could see that her 19-year-old son was exhausted. Long days like this one, with hours of physical therapy and memory drills — I had a motorcycle accident, I hit my head and have trouble remembering new things, I had a motorcycle accident — often left him making these accusations.

"What do you mean 'fake,' Adam?" she said.

He hung his head. "You're not my real mom," he said. His voice changed. "I feel sorry for you, Cindy Lepak. You live in this world. You don't live in the real world."

Doctors have known for nearly 100 years that a small number of psychiatric patients become profoundly suspicious of their closest relationships, often cutting themselves off from those who love them and care for them. They may insist that their spouse is an impostor; that their grown children are body doubles; that a caregiver, a close friend, even their entire family is fake, a duplicate version.

Such delusions are often symptoms of schizophrenia. But in the last decade or so, researchers have documented similar delusions in hundreds of people who are not schizophrenic but have neurological problems including dementia, brain surgery and traumatic blows to the head.

A small group of brain scientists is now investigating misidentification syndromes, as the delusions are called, for clues to one of the most confounding problems in brain science: identity. How and where does the brain maintain the "self"? [...]

3rd group of Ethiopians request aliyah

YNET

While the story of the Falash Mura is known to most Israelis, the public is generally unaware of the difficulties another Ethiopian community that claims to have Jewish ancestry – the Tigray, is facing in immigrating to Israel

The Ethiopian community in Israel has recently launched a campaign to bring to Israel some 2,000 Tigray who have relatives in Israel.

The main difference between the Falash Mura and the Tigray lies in their geographical origin. The Falash Mura are Jews who converted to Christianity in the mid 19th century as a result of social and economic pressure. Most of them live in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa. The Tigray live in northern Ethiopia in a region that borders Eritrea and Sudan, and their Jewish roots are unclear. [...]

Web attack against Twitter - aimed at one blogger

BBC

A "massively co-ordinated" attack on websites including Google, Facebook and Twitter was directed at one individual, it has been confirmed.

Facebook told BBC News that the strike was aimed at a pro-Georgian blogger known as Cyxymu.

The attack caused a blackout of Twitter for around two hours, while Facebook said its service had been "degraded".

Google said it had defended its sites and was now working with the other companies to investigate the attack.

"[The] attack appears to be directed at an individual who has a presence on a number of sites, rather than the sites themselves," a Facebook spokesman told BBC News.

"Specifically, the person is an activist blogger and a botnet was directed to request his pages at such a rate that it impacted service for other users."

Botnets are networks of computers under the control of hackers.

The machines were used to mount a so-called denial-of-service (DOS) attack on Thursday. [...]