Alone together: Is Technology Making Us Lonelier?

Time Magazine

Digital communication is so pervasive that most of us don't even bother to question its role in society. That's not the case with Sherry Turkle, who has tracked the way we interact with computers and artificial intelligence since the 1970s. Founder and director of the MIT Initiative on Technology and Self, Turkle's new book, Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less From Each Other, asks a simple question: do digital methods of communication connect us the way interaction in the 'real world' does? In late December, Turkle sat with TIME to discuss robot puppies, teen texting and what "full attention" means in an age of smart phones.

Alone Together concludes a trilogy of books that started with your exploration of the very first computer programs. Now, 26 years later, we have this giant soup of communication methods. How has that changed our relationship to technology?

It took a while for things to evolve to show [just] where we were vulnerable. This changed dramatically with mobile communication. Who would have known that a little red light on the Blackberry — that doesn't even say who a message is from, but simply that you have a message — would drive people crazy? So [crazy] that if their baby is in the car next to them and they know they can't text and drive, they will [still fiddle] with the steering wheel at 65 miles an hour in order to know who sent that message.[...]

Yisroel Weingarten: Translation of the Zeitung article regarding the visit of major rabbonim

I want to thank the translator who sent me this for completion. This is an unfortunate illustration of great men refusing to acknowledge the horrible and bitter reality of abuse - especially by someone who is a respected member of the community. Abusers typically are not repulsive monsters who hide in the shadows - they are typically friends and family brothers and husbands - teachers and community leaders.
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Historic trip to the "valley of the shadow of death" to visit the great rabbi and scholar Yisroel Moshe Weingarten  in prison in Virginia. The most prominent of them was the great scholar Rav Moshe Green  - who despite being in very poor health -  traveled with great rabbis and activists to  bring a  letter of encouragement from Rav Tuvia Weiss the leader of the Eida Chardis in Jerusalem. 

An extraordinary, historic trip occurred this week onTuesday, when great rabbis and activists led by the great scholar Rabbi Moshe Green  went down to Virgina in order to visit the famous member of the yeshiva world and prominent Torah educator - the great scholar and tzadik Rabbi Israel Moshe Weingarten . He was rosh yeshiva of Netivot Hatalmud and produced many distinguished students who are now Torah scholars and G-d fearing men. He is unfortunately  now languishing in prison

This distinguished rosh yeshiva the great scholar Rabbi Yisrael Weingarten  is greatly treasured and cherished by all  the gedolim  that he has  become acquaintanced with - such as the Satmer Rebbe zt"l, the Minchas Yitzchok  and others. He is responsible for raising up a new righteous generation of. distinguished students who are a glory to the Jewish people.  Unfortunately as is well known he was incarcerated in prison by his wife and one daughter who went astray. They invented terrible lies about him. They decided that at all costs to have this distinguished man thrown in a dark prison for many long years. They thought that in this way they will succeed in leading his other children away from the true religious path because they do not want any more to be under the pious influence of the father, - as they in fact declared publicly in court. With the help of some government officials, they thought of a way that he should not be able to defend himself, and sent him to prison for 30 years..

The terrible slanderous stories which circulated for a long time were heard by the distinguished rabbis  including Rav Chaim Kreiswirth of  Antwerp, and Rav Tuvia Weis of Jerusalem. After a very thorough investigation they reached the clear and certain conclusion according to Daas Torah that these stories were no more than slanderous lies. Furthermore they ruled that it was a terrible sin to make these accusations against such a distinguished person and awesome Torah scholar..

When these slanderers saw that the Jewish courts were not taken in by their lies and sinister plans they did not hesitate to leave the path of Torah and go to a non-Jewish court. As is well known these courts are a place which clearly manifest the inherent hatred that non-Jews have for Jews. The judge did not allow him to defend himself and consequently he sentenced him to the horrible punishment of 30 years imprisonment..

In attendance at this trial were many loyal Jews who were supervised by Rav Tuvia Weiss  - who had been informed of this horrible situation from the beginning. He wanted to speak in tribute and honor of this great Torah scholar, Rav Yisroel Moshe. However the judge refused this request  when he arrogantly made this cruel ruling - even though Rav Weiss is one of the greatest Torah authorities of the Jewish people..

Yisroel Weingarten - a secular legal analysis of his trial

Law.com

Israel Weingarten, the yeshiva teacher charged in Brooklyn, N.Y., federal court with sexually abusing his daughter for seven years, since she was 9years old, was found guilty Wednesday on all five counts.

With 14 federal marshals lining the courtroom, Eastern District of New York Judge John Gleeson warned the audience against emotional outbursts, but the verdict was met with near silence. With its pro se defendant, sensational charges and furtive peeks behind the closed doors of the secretive Satmar society, United States v. Weingarten has transfixed the Brooklyn legal community.

Following the announcement of the verdict, Weingarten, who appeared pro se, told the court, "As I said to the judge in the beginning, I need adjournment because I was unprepared and I was denied that." Gleeson responded, "You have your objection, you have my ruling. I'll see you [for sentencing] on April 3." [....]

Historic visit of Rabbinic Delegation to HaRav HaGaon Yisroel Moshe Weingarten shlita in prison in Virginia

Zalmen Leib wrote, "a. There is nothing wrong with Rabbis visiting even the worst of the worst in prison b. Aside from that, how do you even know it is Weingarten they visited?"

A  reasonable question if all you saw was the Matzav article. However Matzav was based on an article which appeared in Zeitung  - I have attached the beginning of the article. Even if you don't understand Yiddish you will notice that the headline is what I placed as the subject of this post. It is clear they view him as a great man! Matzav at least had the sense of shame to delete his name - though I am not sure why they publicized this event. I am publicizing the fact that he is being glorified and that is a terrible problem. We see that people who do terrible things are still respected in some circles and thus we have a long way to go.

Rabbinic delegation visit prisoner serving 25 years for incestual rape

Matzav

This past Tuesday, January 4, Rabbi Moshe Green, rosh yeshiva of the Yeshivah D’Monsey, in Monsey, NY, visiting Richmond, Virginia, to be mechazeik Jewish inmates there.

Rav Green rarely leaves Monsey, or NY at all, particularly since he has suffered two strokes and uses a wheelchair.Rav Green was accompanied by his son, Rav Avrohom Green, and his grandson, R’ Yaakov Flohr. They were driven by car from Monsey to Baltimore, MD, where they slept for a few hours, and continued in the pre-dawn hours to Virginia, where they participated in the daily 7:15 am Shacharis minyan at the Yeshiva of Virginia in the Near West End of Richmond. [...]

They then continued together to Hopewell, VA, for the main purpose of their visit, which was to give spiritual encouragement to the Jewish inmate community at the Petersburg Federal Prison in Hopewell, VA. Among the inmates is a prominent member of the Monsey community. [...]

The conviction of Yisroel Weingarten NYDaily News

The world as a game:Magid of Mezeritch

this is a continuation of the post regarding the dichotomy as viewing life as a game versus as reality. Below is a statement which says that G-d knows that this world is trivial - both its joys and hardships i.e., it is a game to get rewarded and to be taken seriously.

Magid of Mezeritch (Likutei Yekarim page 12b): The tzadik doesn’t get satisfaction in this world. Even though he prays occasionally concerning worldly matters—he is not answered and his prayers are ignored. In truth it is because of G﷓d’s great love and fondness for the tzadik that He doesn’t answer him concerning worldly matters. This can be explain by the following parable. A king’s small son made a tiny house out of twigs—as children typically do—and someone came and broke it. The child ran crying to his father the king. He screamed and wailed to his father about the great tragedy that had befallen him. The king upon hearing about this “great tragedy” laughed—even though he loved his son very much. Because in the father’s eyes this loss was totally insignificant in comparison to the fabulous good that the king was prepared to give his son. The king also had in mind to build his son a glorious palace of unparalleled grandeur. Consequently the little house of twigs was so inconsequential in the eyes of the king that he saw no reason to take revenge on the person that had broken it. Therefore even though his son suffered greatly by his loss, his father ignored it. It was only a tragedy in the eyes of the child but not to the father who knew that his son was receiving infinitely more significant things. The meaning of the parable is obvious. Because G﷓d’s great love for the tzadik He will give him many great and wonderful things in the World to Come. Therefore he doesn’t pay attention to the suffering that the tzadik has in this world. He knows that the good things in the World to Come are infinitely greater than that which a person has in this world. He also knows that the good in this world is as nothing compared to the great and strong love that causes Him to give the tzadik the good reward in the World to Come.

Newer Antipsychotic Drugs Are Overused

WebMD

 Many people taking powerful psychiatric medications that increase their risk of weight gain and diabetes are prescribed those drugs when there’s little evidence that they will get any benefit from them, a new study shows.

What’s more, experts say that even when these drugs, which are known as atypical antipsychotics, are prescribed as recommended, they may not be safer or more effective than the less expensive, older medications that they’ve apparently replaced.

“Atypical agents were once thought to be safer and possibly more effective,” says study researcher G. Caleb Alexander, MD, an assistant professor in the department of medicine at the University of Chicago Hospitals. “And what we’ve learned over time is that they are not safer, and in the settings where there’s the best scientific evidence, they are no more effective.” [...]

Games versus the real world

An old time lawyer was recently asked about his career satisfaction. "I used to love law. I knew all the rules of the game and which judge to use which argument with. It was really great. But now I don't like it. Many women have entered the field and they don't know that it is a game.They really take things seriously as if they were dealing with reality instead of a game. It isn't fun anymore."

This is an important model - which I plan to expand.

'Mother,' 'Father' Changing to 'Parent One,' 'Parent Two' on Passport Applications

Fox News

The words “mother” and “father” will be removed from U.S. passport applications and replaced with gender neutral terminology, the State Department says.

“The words in the old form were ‘mother’ and ‘father,’” said Brenda Sprague, deputy assistant Secretary of State for Passport Services. "They are now ‘parent one’ and ‘parent two.’"

A statement on the State Department website noted: “These improvements are being made to provide a gender neutral description of a child’s parents and in recognition of different types of families.” The statement didn't note if it was for child applications only. [...]

Study Linking Vaccines to Autism Is "Fraudulent"

Time Magazine

It's unfortunate but true that sometimes the hard facts of science don't turn out to be so grounded in reality after all. Scientific fraud is certainly not new, but manipulation of medical data is always troubling, and potentially deadly, for the public.

That's the case with a controversial 1998 paper published in the Lancet by Andrew Wakefield, a former intestinal specialist at Royal Free Hospital in London. This week, the editors of the British Medical Journal (BMJ) penned a commentary calling the study “an elaborate fraud,” and accompanied the charge with an in-depth study exposing apparent manipulations of the data by Wakefield to bolster his argument that the mumps, measles and rubella vaccine was linked to autism [...]

The dangers of Philosophy & the issue of transcendance & immanence of G-d

Rabbi Micha Berger wrote this comment to a previous post regarding th dangers of philosophy - It contains important issues

Notice that the author (and I also heard the true author is unknown) in this middah isn't rejecting Scholasticism or Greek philosophy, but the entire enterprise of seeking machshavah amuqah -- deep understanding [of theology].

This is an old problem: there is a dialectic between whether we view Hashem as Immanent ("Hashem is here, Hashem is there") or Transcendent ("Just one Hashem in heaven"). The more one studies /about/ G-d, the more one gets involved the the Transcendent perception of the Almighty.

The Rambam had no problem -- to him, a Personal G-d is simply a concept for the masses, and the intelligentsia should only relate to the Transcendent notion.

Rav Nachman miBreslov took the opposite approach -- having a personal relationship with G-d is so important, one simply should avoid studying theology.

Briskers don't have this problem either, they don't study aggadita altogether. (I'm exagerating, but not much.) The whole question isn't really in their worldview -- just go learn more halakhah!

Lub takes a mystical way out, involving the notion of a particular person having a soul that comes from the nation's soul's Yechidah. In other words, this rebbe (Moshe, Yehoshua, ... Yiftach, ... Shemu'el ... David ... Rav Yehudah haNasi ... Rav Ashi ... and so on to the Besh"t and the Lubavitcher Rabbeim) has a soul from the level at which Israel, G-d and the Torah are one.

Therefore, their Torah unifies.

And that's why Lub teaches Tanya to newcomers. From within Chabad thought, Tanya is the only philosophical approach that enhances rather than distracts from the notion of a personal relationship with the Almighty.

Mussar taught a different "out", based on its tenet (as well as psychology's) that there is a huge gap between what we know, and what we internalize. Machshavah amuqah is an intellectual pursuit; emunah peshutah is a middah. They are inculcated through different routs. Yes, in theory the two conflict. In practice, man is very capable of living with such dialectics.

Rabbeinu Tam - the dangers of seeking truth through philosophy

from Daas Torah - translation copyrighted

Rabbeinu Tam (Sefer Hayashor Shaar 6): Damage from learning non-Torah wisdom:  Tenth Midah -  Wisdom which is no good. There is wisdom which destroys faith for example external wisdom, heretical wisdom and philosophy. There is no need for one who serves G﷓d to be involved in them rather he should distance himself from them with all his strength. Because before he receives any benefit from them he will have lost his faith. It is like one who loses his possessions in the attempt to acquire other possessions and ends up having nothing. There are many who think they are wise who think this is an exalted wisdom and they think they will acquire profound and esoteric secrets – but they don’t realize they are going away from their faith. It is like a healthy person who accustoms himself to eating unhealthy foods because they taste good but he ends up destroying his health and complexion without realizing the changes. He considers himself healthy when in fact he is close to death. When a person associates with a heretic, he destroys his faith little by little without being aware. Similarly a person who studies philosophy becomes alienated from his faith little by little without being aware. While the intent and concern of philosophy is to understand the unity of G﷓d - but when you learn it you suffer a loss. Philosophy has words and axioms which from the very beginning weaken faith. No one can be certain that when he engages in its study that he won’t lose his faith – except if he has an expert and pious teacher that will guide him and protect from the places which weaken his faith. In such a case then he will be able to avoid the pitfalls of philosophy and accomplish the goals he desires. But if he reads books of philosophy on his own or has a teacher who is not completely pious – then there is no doubt that his faith will be destroyed and he will lose more than he gains. This is the general situation that stands before all those who fear G﷓d and therefore he has to be very careful.

Aristotle reached highest level possible without aid of prophecy

Rambam (Letter to Ibn Tibbon): Aristotle reached the highest level of intellect that man is capable of without the aid of the Divine influence which leads to prophecy for which there is no higher stage.

Religious teens who watch pornographic images are haunted by guilt & self-deprecation.

Another misrepresentation and misunderstanding of healthy basic decency

YNET

A new study performed by Bar-Ilan University has found that religious teens who are compelled to watch pornographic images are afterwards haunted by guilt and self-deprecation.

 
"You walk around with such an overwhelming sense of guilt in your gut, and you slowly start to hate yourself," one of the teens was quoted as saying.

 The research, which strives to depict the conflicting ways in which religious teens perceive sexuality, was presented at an international conference on "challenges in Jewish education" held at the university on Tuesday. [...]