Child abuse: Portrait of a clergyman

Irish Times

Since Brendan Smyth’s death 13 years ago, the spectre of the relentless child abuser has haunted both his victims and those in the Catholic Church who failed to halt his crimes. With Smyth at the centre of a new controversy involving Cardinal Seán Brady, Gerry Moriarty , Northern Editor, outlines the late priest’s grim history

HERE’S AN image. It’s still dark, pre-dawn, in late August 1997. A graveside in the Co Cavan countryside at 4.15am, seven silhouetted Norbertine priests and a few locals gathered around, four gardaí standing in the background, the lights from a hearse illuminating the scene as the coffin of Fr Brendan Smyth is lowered into the ground.

It’s like a picture conjured by a modern-day Bram Stoker, only worse because you know it’s real. They buried Smyth for sure, but his pernicious legacy lives on. He destroyed lives, toppled a government, and – with the other paedophile priests allied to the church’s own criminal mismanagement – brought Irish Catholicism to its knees. Now Cardinal Seán Brady prays, reflects and wrestles with his conscience over whether he should step down as primate of Ireland because of Smyth. [...]

Early marriage

Haaretz

Last year, a matchmaker approached Ayala Suchi, 18, from Yitzhar, with a potential husband. While many people feel a woman her age is too young for marriage, in Ayala's family and circle of friends, no one was surprised by her decision to become a teenage bride. Her younger sister had married at 17, and a cousin did so at an even younger age.

"Here in the hills of Judea and Samaria, this is the way we are raised," explains Suchi, who now lives in the illegal outpost of Givat Ronen, south of Nablus. "People are more idealistic and they have a very clear idea of their priorities. A 15-year-old girl in the hills region doesn't go to movies like city girls; instead, she takes part in the fight for the Land of Israel. And that kind of activity makes you mature rapidly."[...]

Israel is standing firm against Obama

CNN

Israel has no intention of backing down in its argument with the United States over Israeli plans to build 1,600 apartments on disputed land in largely Arab East Jerusalem, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday.

"Our policy regarding Jerusalem is the same as it was over the past 42 years. We have made it clear to the Americans that for us, building there is just like building in Tel Aviv," Netanyahu said. Israel captured the land in question in the spring of 1967, nearly 43 years ago. [...]

R' Eliashiv prohibits moving graves for emergency room

JPost

Plans to build a rocket- and missile-proof new emergency room at Ashkelon’s Barzilai Medical Center were dealt a blow on Thursday when Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, the top rabbinic authority for the Lithuanian haredi community, told Deputy Health Minister Ya’acov Litzman not to be complicit in moving graves to make room for the structure.[...]

Israel objects to U.S. demands

NYTIMES

The discord between the United States and Israel over Jewish building in East Jerusalem deepened Tuesday with Israeli officials saying they would reject demands by Washington and expressing anger over the public upbraiding of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by the Obama administration.

On a day of scattered disturbances by Palestinians in East Jerusalem, news emerged that Israel was moving ahead with a second building project there. A notice on the Web site of the Israel Lands Authority invited bids on construction of 309 new homes in the Jewish suburb of Neve Yaakov, in northeast Jerusalem.

A spokesman for the Jerusalem municipality said building and planning across the city were moving ahead. “For us, it is business as usual,” the spokesman, Stephan Miller, said.[...]

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).