Lashon harah:Outing the transgendered?

NYTIMES The Ethicist

I am a straight woman, and I was set up on a date with a man. We got along well initially, but I grew concerned about how evasive he was about his past. I did some sophisticated checking online — I do research professionally — and discovered that he is a female-to-male transgender ed individual. I then ended our relationship. He and I live in Orthodox Jewish communities.  (I believe he converted shortly after he became a man.) I think he continues to date women within our group. Should I urge our rabbi to out this person? [...]

Abuse: Bullies & cyberbullies - what to do?

NYTIMES

What do you do if your child is traumatized by online bullying? And what can be done to help bullies understand the impact of their actions? Those are among the questions about cyberbullying readers asked our expert, Elizabeth K. Englander. Dr. Englander is a professor of psychology and the founder and director of the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center at Bridgewater State College, which provides anti-bullying and anti-violence training programs and resources to schools and families.[...]

CNN drops senior editor for praising Hezbollah leader

New York Times

CNN on Wednesday removed its senior editor for Middle Eastern affairs, Octavia Nasr, from her job after she published a Twitter message saying that she respected the Shiite cleric the Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, who died on Sunday.

Ms. Nasr left her CNN office in Atlanta on Wednesday. Parisa Khosravi, the senior vice president for CNN International Newsgathering, said in an internal memorandum that she “had a conversation” with Ms. Nasr on Wednesday morning and that “we have decided that she will be leaving the company."

Ms. Nasr, a 20-year veteran of CNN, wrote on Twitter after the cleric died on Sunday, “Sad to hear of the passing of Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah … One of Hezbollah’s giants I respect a lot.”

Does G-d cause sexual abuse & transgression?

I am looking for examples where G-d causes someone to be sexually abused or to be involved in sexual transgressions. The following are some examples.

1) Esther

2) R' Meir sister in law was Divinely punished to be a prostitute

3) Dovid was forced in relation with Batsheva to encourage baaeli teshuva

4) Yehuda and Tamar

5) Dina and Shechem

6) Lot & his daughters necessary for Moshiach

7) Yael & Sisra

Ever a good idea to cover up sexual abuse?

Aderet (Me’ane Eliyahu #32 1895): A disgusting event occurred here in the Mir community. A young man, the son of the tailor, fell in love with a servant…however she was not interested in him and rejected him. One Shabbos night after the meal, she went for a walk with one of her relatives outside the city and he accompanied them. When they were far from other people, they were suddenly attacked by two young men. These assailants threatened to stab the two men who had accompanied her - if they attempted to put up any resistance. Out of fear for their lives the two men who had accompanied her ran away – and she was left alone with the assailants. They grabbed her and raped her – despite her struggling against them with all her strength they overpowered her. They severely beat her despite her screams for help. After the brazen assailants fled, the two young men returned to her and brought her wounded and beaten to a doctor for treatment. The community was outraged by this act. Her relatives wanted to press charges with the police so that the assailants should be properly punished. They came to me and I spoke with them to quiet the matter so that it should not disgrace the Jews in the eyes of the non‑Jews by the wanton act of our youth that they would rape, transgress Shabbos and threaten to kill.  There was also the danger that could result from  going against these brazen youth. The relatives listened to me and did not go to the police. However it seemed that the whole thing was plotted by the youth that was in love with her. He apparently hoped that by degrading her she would finally accept him. Therefore an agreement was worked out with the relatives of the girl, this youth and the relatives of her assailants. The rapist would pay 100 rubles as a dowry, the youth who loved her would marry her as soon as possible lest he find her disgusting because of the rape. Finally the father of the youth signed a promissory note to provide two hundred ruble only after they got married. However a question arose how she could get married immediately since the halacha seemed to require that she needed to wait 3 months to make sure that she wasn’t pregnant from the rapist….

American opposition to building mosques after 9/11

FoxNews

They're separated by thousands of miles, but they share a common controversy: Mosques.

Murfreesboro, Tenn., has joined a growing list of midsized towns in the U.S. that are embroiled in conflicts over proposed mosques being built or bought in their neighborhoods.

Including Murfreesboro, residents have risen up against mosques in two other Tennessee towns; in Staten Island, N.Y.; Sheboygan County, Wis.; and the Sheepshead Bay neighborhood of Brooklyn, as well as the proposed mosque and Islamic Cultural Center near Ground Zero, which has garnered some of the most heated battles.[...]

Technology that elicits emotional bonding

NYTimes

Nothing Eileen Oldaker tried could calm her mother when she called from the nursing home, disoriented and distressed in what was likely the early stages of dementia. So Ms. Oldaker hung up, dialed the nurses’ station and begged them to get Paro.

Paro is a robot modeled after a baby harp seal. It trills and paddles when petted, blinks when the lights go up, opens its eyes at loud noises and yelps when handled roughly or held upside down. Two microprocessors under its artificial white fur adjust its behavior based on information from dozens of hidden sensors that monitor sound, light, temperature and touch. It perks up at the sound of its name, praise and, over time, the words it hears frequently.

“Oh, there’s my baby,” Ms. Oldaker’s mother, Millie Lesek, exclaimed that night last winter when a staff member delivered the seal to her. “Here, Paro, come to me.” [...]

Ben Gurion U professor dismissed for offending gay students

YNET

Ben-Gurion University cancels bioethics course after Dr. Yeruham Leavitt says children of same-sex couples deprived of 'normal' upbringing. Lecturer: Personal opinions allowed in ethics courses. [...]

YNET

Ben Gurion University's dismissal of Dr. Yeruham Leavitt, a lecturer and resident of the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba who made anti-gay remarks during class, sparked outrage among many groups in Israeli society Sunday. [...]

4th of July: Gratitude for America's freedom & laws

NYTIMES

LISTVYANKA, Russia — On the edge of this Siberian village is a resort with a veiled guest list and armed guards at the front gate. When local officials have expressed unease about what goes on inside, the reply has always been the same: do not interfere.

Two and half years ago, the village’s mayor, Tatyana Kazakova, had enough. A major construction project at the resort had exposed a hot water main, threatening the heating supply for the entire village as temperatures plunged to 30 degrees below zero.

Ms. Kazakova was not a typical bureaucrat. She was one of the most successful businesswomen in this vast region, a real-estate magnate with a blond ponytail who represented a new breed of Russian entrepreneur.

She filed a lawsuit against the resort, and asked the regional prosecutor to open a criminal inquiry.

A criminal inquiry was indeed opened — against Ms. Kazakova.

The resort belongs to the F.S.B., the main successor to the Soviet-era K.G.B., and the F.S.B. arrested her and had her prosecuted.

Personal safety - Talking to our children

Jewish Press by Bracha Goetz

Here are signs to protect our children from danger: In 95% of cases, the molester's not a stranger. He's someone you know and respect.  He's disarming. He is drawn to children.  And he's awfully charming.

 This is a handy little jingle for parents to keep in mind, but even though it's short, my rhyme is not for little children.  In order to adequately prepare our children, however, first we need to be aware of the red flags ourselves.  Then we simply need to schedule an "annual check-up" time to clearly and calmly bring up the subject of personal safety with our children. [...]

5TJT DA Hynes speaks about Rubashkin case

FTJT

In a video interview with the Five Towns Jewish Times, Brooklyn District Attorney, Charles Hynes speaks out about the harsh Rubashkin jail sentence.  He also compared some of the differences between federal cases and local cases, explaining why the local system is in many ways superior. [...] 

Believing abuser will stop?

Of interest is the question of believing that a child molester will stop because he said he did teshuva or that he claims he really is sorry it won't happen again. Apparently most studies assume that molesters are liars or incapable of controlling themselves. Are Jewish molesters different or are promises made to the rabbical authorites more likely to be kept?

Update: I came across an interresting Meiri that insists that the victim needs to forgive him before we can assume he has done teshuva.

Meiri (Berachos 19a): Concerning a talmid chachom one is not allowed to suspected him of sinning even if you saw him sin at night it is prohibited to suspect that he will continue sinning in the day. Rather one is required to assume that he has repented from sinning by the day. When do we make this assumption of repentance? It is only for sins between him and G-d but for those sins against other men you can assume he will continue sinning until it is known that the one he has sinned against has forgiven him

Speaking lashon harah about rabbis - to preserve emunas chachomim

Rabbeinu Yonah(Mishlei 24:28): Don’t be a gratuitous witness of your fellow man – ...This principle is stated in Berachos (19a), If you see a talmid chachom sinning at night, do not suspect of him of sinning anymore by the day because he will surely have repented by then. Since he has the reputation of a person who is fearful of sinning and he is upset and regrets that his lust overcame him. However if the talmid chachom is in fact a wicked person who is mistakenly thought by the people to be righteous – he is not only to be criticized to those who know how to keep quiet – but in fact it is a mitzva to publicize his deeds until they are well known to the public. That is because severe harm occurs when wicked people are honored because he will turn many away from the proper path and denigrate the honor of the righteous and encourages sinning. There is in fact profanation of G‑d’s name by honoring the wicked because some people will be aware of the sins the wicked do and will concluded that there is nothing wrong with sinning and that it doesn’t lower one’s stature (Yoma 86b)…

Abuse: Pope vs Belgium - Problems with self-policing

Time

A little more than a fortnight ago, Pope Benedict XVI asked for "forgiveness from God" regarding the sex-abuse scandals that have rocked the Catholic Church. His words aimed to turn the tide of public opinion back in favor of the church during what is turning out to be the Vatican's annus horribilis — a year punctuated by revelations of horrific abuse by pedophile priests in Ireland, the U.S., Austria and Germany that took place during the papacy of John Paul II and earlier.

But when a Belgian bishops' meeting was raided last week by police investigating renewed claims of child sexual abuse, the Vatican responded with outrage that seemed at odds with the apparent contrition in mid-June. The Pope himself described the searches as "surprising and deplorable" in a letter to the head of the Belgian Church, Archbishop André-Joseph Léonard, on June 27. Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone went further, saying the Belgian police's detention of bishops for nine hours without access to their cell phones was "serious and unbelievable" and akin to the practices of communist regimes. And after the police drilled into the tombs of two Cardinals, Léonard likened the actions to a schlock crime thriller. "It's worthy of The Da Vinci Code," Léonard said. (See church sex-abuse scandals around the world.) [...]