Obama bashes Israel to please Arabs

Washington Post

PRESIDENT OBAMA'S Middle East diplomacy failed in his first year in part because he chose to engage in an unnecessary and unwinnable public confrontation with Israel over Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Jerusalem. Over the past six months Mr. Obama's envoys gingerly retreated from that fight and worked to build better relations with the government of Binyamin Netanyahu. Last week the administration finally managed to strike a deal for the launching of indirect Israeli-Palestinian talks. So it has been startling -- and a little puzzling -- to see Mr. Obama deliberately plunge into another public brawl with the Jewish state.

True, this U.S.-Israel crisis began with a provocation from Jerusalem: the announcement by the Interior Ministry of plans for 1,600 more Jewish homes beyond Israel's 1967 border. Vice President Biden, who was visiting when the news broke, was embarrassed; he quickly responded with a statement of condemnation. He then appeared to accept the public apology of Mr. Netanyahu, who said he, too, had been surprised by the announcement.[...]

Arabs protest rebuilding of shul they destroyed

NYTIMES

In what appeared to be a case of unfortunate timing, Israel officially inaugurated a rebuilt synagogue in Jerusalem’s Old City on Monday, entangling what was intended to be a festive cultural event with the diplomatic row over new Israeli construction in the contested territory.

The restoration of the Hurva Synagogue, which was destroyed by Jordanian forces during the 1948 war, has been under way for years. But its reopening ceremony coincided with a crisis in Israel-American relations over plans for new Jewish housing in East Jerusalem that were announced during a visit here last week by Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.[...]

Worst crisis in US-Israel ties in 35 years

Haaretz

Israel's ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, has told the country's diplomats there that U.S.-Israeli relations face their worst crisis in 35 years, despite attempts by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office to project a sense of "business as usual." [...]

Abuse: Praising the abuser

YNET

Nachman Stal, who fled to Britain after being accused of sodomizing a youth of 14 years, was sentenced Sunday to 13 years behind bars.

Stal, who was extradited to Israel in July last year, received 12 years' imprisonment for sexual offenses and an additional year for evading justice. Tel Aviv District Court also criticized rabbis who had come to Stal's defense. [...]

Million dollar fund for abuse program in Brooklyn

NYDaily News

The state has earmarked $950,000 since April 2009 to fund Assemblyman Dov Hikind's plans to teach H asidic Jews to speak up against child molestation.

But the money sits untouched as Hikind figures out the details of Shomrei Yeldainu - Hebrew for "Guardians of our Children" - the Daily News has learned.

"You have to develop something that is done correctly working with the rabbis and leaders," said Hikind (D-Brooklyn). [...]

Getting Chareidim to work

Jewish Chronicle

The large buildings and symmetrical streets in Modiin Illit are a world away from the crowded flats found in other Charedi neighbourhoods in Jerusalem and Bnei Brak. And according to new figures, the environment is directly contributing to a growing enthusiasm for work.

Israel's fast-growing Charedi community is traditionally characterised by low employment, high poverty and dependence on charity and benefits. How to change this has become a perennial question of Israeli politics.[...]

Rav Sternbuch: Giving with joy

British social services failed to stop incest over 35 years

Times on LIne

A father who repeatedly raped his two daughters and made them pregnant 18 times during a tyrannical 35-year campaign of physical and sexual abuse escaped detection because of a litany of failings by care professionals, a report revealed yesterday.

Agencies involved with the family failed to confront the man even though they strongly suspected for many years that he was the father of the girls’ seven babies, some of them born with severe genetic defects.

Why isn't all punishment publicized as a deterrent?

One thing that I am puzzled by is the fact that the Torah lists four crimes whose death penalty is to be publicized so that the "people will hear and be afraid" and will learn a lesson not to commit a sin in the future. Why are these four crimes singled out? Why aren't all punishment publicized for its educational and social value?

Rambam(Hilchos Mamrim 3:8):How is a rebellious elder dealt with? …[once he is convicted] he is not to be executed by the beis din of his city or the Sanhedrin which is located outside of Jerusalem. Rather he is to be taken to the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem. There is to be imprisoned until one of the 3 pilgrimage festivals as it says that “all of the Jewish nation shall hear about it and be fearful. This implies that the execution required public announcement. In fact there are four executions which require public announcement – a rebellious elder, those who false testimony to try to cause e someone executed, a missionary, and a rebellious son (ben sorer u’morah) That is because the Torah says about all of them, “So that the people will hear and be afraid.

Ramban(Devarim 21:18): Concerning a ben sorer u’morah -…In general he is not executed because of a sin he has done but rather because of the sin he will do (Sanhedrin 71a). This is why the verse says “And all of Israel shall hear and fear” because he isn’t executed because of the greatness of his sin but rather to provide a lesson for the masses and so that he won’t be a stumbling block for others. And so it is the manner of the Torah verse when it warns about the death penalty that it is a deterrent to help others. Thus it is mentioned here regarding a rebellious elder (Devarim 17:13) since there is nothing deserving capital punishment in his teaching a minority view of halacha. His severe punishment is only to remove a dispute over the Torah as I explained in verse 11. This is also true concerning false witnesses (Devarim 19:20) who are given capital punishment only for trying to have another executed and not if they succeeded. This is also true of a missionary (Devarim 13:12) since he is executed only for saying things - even if those he spoke to did not actually worship idols or did not listen to him. In fact his execution is to provide a lesson for the rest of society. Thus it is with this mitzva that it is an innovation and a derivation of the basic mitzva of honoring (Shemos 20:12) and fearing parents (Vayikra 10:3).

The main problem is unemployment - not healthcare

New York Times

The Obama administration and Democrats in general are in trouble because they are not urgently and effectively addressing the issue that most Americans want them to: the frightening economic insecurity that has put a chokehold on millions of American families. 

The economy shed 36,000 jobs last month, and that was trumpeted in the press as good news. Well, after your house has burned down I suppose it’s good news that the flames may finally be flickering out. But once you realize that it will take 11 million or more new jobs to get us back to where we were when the recession began, you begin to understand that we’re not really making any headway at all.

It’s also widely known by now that the official employment statistics drastically understate the problem. Once we take off the statistical rose-colored glasses, we’re left with the awful reality of millions upon millions of Americans who have lost — or are losing — their jobs, their homes, their small businesses, and their hopes for a brighter future.

Reform Movement & intermarried couples

Haaretz

A Reform Jewish task force on intermarriage said Monday that the movement should do more to encourage mixed-faith couples to be active in Jewish life, including creating special blessings for major life events such as weddings and funerals.

The panel proposed no changes in the movement's policy on officiating at interfaith weddings. Reform Judaism formally opposes the practice but allows each rabbi to decide.

Instead, the panel proposed other steps, including educating rabbis on how they can engage intermarried families, and creating blessings for ceremonies that involve a non-Jewish spouse.[...]

Church faces growing abuse scandal in Europe

New York Times

ROME — Defending itself against a growing child sexual abuse scandal in Europe, one that has even come close to the brother of Pope Benedict XVI, the Vatican said Tuesday that local European churches had addressed the issue with “timely and decisive action.”

In a note read on Vatican Radio, the Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, cautioned against limiting the concerns over child sexual abuse to Roman Catholic institutions, noting that the problem also affected the broader society.

A wave of church sexual abuse scandals has emerged in recent weeks in Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands, adding to the fallout from a broad abuse investigation in Ireland.

Interruption of blogging due to travel plans.

I am in the process of traveling to America for an extended visit. Therefore for the next few days there will be few if any posts and I might not have an opportunity to approve the comments. Hopefully by the end of the week things will get back to normal.

Lemba's of Zimbabwe claim Jewish ancestry

BBC

In many ways, the Lemba tribe of Zimbabwe and South Africa are just like their neighbours.

But in other ways their customs are remarkably similar to Jewish ones.

They do not eat pork, they practise male circumcision, they ritually slaughter their animals, some of their men wear skull caps and they put the Star of David on their gravestones.

Their oral traditions claim that their ancestors were Jews who fled the Holy Land about 2,500 years ago.[...]