Rav Moshe Sternbuch: Parshas Bereishis

Rav Moshe Sternbuch: Halachic discussion of Shalit exchange

Abuse: Incredible institutional coverup by the Boy Scouts of America

Los Angeles Times

Rick Turley was 18 when he learned that Scouting offered a unique opportunity to meet boys.

He would show up in a uniform with a sash full of merit badges, charm parents with claims of being a "top" leader and offer to take their preteen boys out for a swim or drive. Then, often after plying them with alcohol, he would fondle or rape them — once going so far as to kidnap a boy in a stolen plane.

Over nearly two decades, Turley molested at least 15 children in Southern California and British Columbia, most of whom he met through American and Canadian Scouting, a Los Angeles Times and Canadian Broadcasting Corp. investigation has found.

Scouting officials on both sides of the border not only failed to stop him, but sometimes helped cover his tracks, according to confidential Scouting records, court files and interviews with victims, families and Scout leaders.

At one point in 1979, Boy Scouts of America officials decided not to call police after Turley admitted molesting three Orange County boys, the organization's records show.

Violence between ultra-Orthodox sects rocks Jerusalem neighborhood

Haaretz

The Batei Warsaw quarter in Mea She'arim was built in the Ottoman period as a hostel for yeshiva students from Poland. Their families receive tiny apartments for key money or low rent. The Polish Gerrer dynasty, which always had people in the neighborhood committee, has gained almost complete control of it in recent years and is now planning to expand the quarter.

Although they do not recognize the state or its institutions, the Batei Warsaw tenants, most of whom belong to other ultra-Orthodox factions, have filed a court suit to stop the Gerrer Hasids' expansion. This move is believed to have sparked the recent hostilities.

Nobody was surprised by the attack this week. A week and a half ago vandals spread glue on Gerrer Rabbi David Alter's door, preventing him from going out to Hoshana Rabbah prayers. Everyone knew the Gerrer Hasids were out for revenge.

Hamodia: Erasing computers from pictures?

Hattip - Moshe
http://www.ladaat.net/forum/index.php?topic=60555

In Hamodia Sukkos edition. both pictures appear.
They just forgot to erase computer from second pic :)

Appreciating G-d's gift of sight by Rabbi Yair Hoffman

The Scandal of Kabbala Center - Philip Berg & I.R.S.

L.A. Times Part I

L.A. Times Part II

Philip Berg’s new wife was young, beautiful and worldly, everything that he, a middle-aged orthodox rabbi, wasn’t. Karen Berg could be pushy too. She brought a television into their home over his objections. She tossed out his traditional black fur hat, and pressured him to teach ancient Jewish mysticism -- known as kabbalah -- to the public.

“Men and women together?” Philip said.

“Yeah, sure, men and women,” she replied.

Philip understood how radical her proposition was. For centuries, elite rabbinical scholars -- all of them men -- had guarded like rare gems the spiritual secrets believed to be encoded in the Torah. Karen was an outsider to this culture. Entrepreneurial and unimpressed by religious authority, she saw no reason why such valuable teachings shouldn’t be offered on the open market.

“Let’s give it to the people,” she insisted.

Philip was torn between tradition and his soul mate. He chose Karen.

‘Dangerous Instincts’: Ex-FBI profiler explains dangers of that ‘nice’ neighbor

Washington Post

The man sitting in front of Mary Ellen O’Toole was, she says, a well-mannered guy. “He was low-key. He was nice. He didn’t swear.” He was very proud of his work, which he described in polite, pleasant tones.

His name was Gary Ridgway. His other name was the Green River Killer. His work was killing at least 49 women in Washington state throughout the 1980s and 1990s. He did it all while maintaining marriages, parenting and church-going, and he seemed very much the word neighbors often use to describe men who turn out to have headless torsos in their freezers. Which is to say, he seemed very, very nice

The niceness paradox. O’Toole worked as a profiler for the FBI for 30 years, headquartered in Quantico. She interviewed the Unabomber. She worked on the Polly Klaas abduction, the Red Lake school shooting and the investigation of David Parker Ray — the Toy-Box Killer who tortured women in a high-tech homemade dungeon. What she found was that the most dangerous criminals were often the ones who came across as the most harmless. That’s how they were able to continue harming people..

Monsey man charged with sexually abusing a boy, 14

lohud

A 58-year-old Monsey man has been charged with sexually molesting a 14-year-old boy, Ramapo police said today. Police accused Moishe Turner of 5 Dana Road of having anal and oral sex on seven occasions throughout Ramapo and Spring Valley. The investigation led to Turner's arrest last week on seven felony counts of second-degree criminal sex act and one misdemeanor count of endangering the welfare of a child.

Shalit Exchange:Halachic Analysis

5tjt

The recent exchange of Gilad Schalit for over 1000 Palestinian prisoners, many with blood on their hands, has sparked much debate in the Jewish community. Is this exchange wise?  Is it permitted according to Halacha?  Are we not endangering the lives of so many others in this move?

Many of the Rabbis who have discussed the issue thus far have come out that the exchange is a violation of halacha.  Among them were Rabbi Dov Lior of Kiryat Arba and Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, the son of Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu zt”l the former Sefardic Chief Rabbi of Israel (see http://yourjewishnews.com/12143.aspx).  It seems that at least initially, Rabbi Amar the current Sefardic Chief Rabbi of Israel, was also in agreement with them. Respectfully, however, this may not necessarily be the last word on the subject. 

Let us not forget that often, halacha is not so clear cut.  Every case in halacha must be examined upon its own merits and the specifics of each case.  We must do the same here.

Real 'Sybil' Admits Multiple Personalities Were Fake

nrp

When Sybil first came out in 1973, not only did it shoot to the top of the best-seller lists — it manufactured a psychiatric phenomenon. The book was billed as the true story of a woman who suffered from multiple personality disorder. Within a few years of its publication, reported cases of multiple personality disorder — now known as dissociative identity disorder — leapt from fewer than 100 to thousands. But in a new book, Sybil Exposed, writer Debbie Nathan argues that most of the story is based on a lie.

Rav Dovid Katz of Baltimore:Keynote speech Ner Israel

A High-Profile Executive Job as Defense Against Mental Ills

New York Times

Researchers have conducted more than 100,000 studies on schizophrenia since its symptoms were first characterized. They have tested patients’ blood. They have analyzed their genes. They have measured perceptual skills, I.Q. and memory, and have tried perhaps thousands of drug treatments. 

Now, a group of people with the diagnosis is showing researchers a previously hidden dimension of the story: how the disorder can be managed while people build full, successful lives. The continuing study — a joint project of the University of California, Los Angeles; the University of Southern California; and the Department of Veterans Affairs — follows a group of 20 people with the diagnosis, including two doctors, a lawyer and a chief executive, Ms. Myrick. 

The study has already forced its authors to discard some of their assumptions about living with schizophrenia. “It’s just embarrassing,” said Dr. Stephen R. Marder, director of the psychosis section at U.C.L.A.’s Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, a psychiatrist with the V.A. Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System and one of the authors of the study. “For years, we as psychiatrists have been telling people with a diagnosis what to expect; we’ve been telling them who they are, how to change their lives — and it was bad information” for many people.

Lesbian parents give gender blocking treatment to son

Fox News

A lesbian couple in California who say their 11-year-old son Tommy who wants to be a girl named Tammy are giving their child hormone blockers that delay the onset of puberty -- so that he can have more time that he can have more time to decide if he wants to change his gender.

The couple’s supporters say the Hormone Blocking Therapy has only minor side effects and is appropriate for a child who is unsure of his gender. "This is definitely a changing landscape for transgender youth," said Joel Baum, director of education and training for Gender Spectrum, a California-based non-profit group. "This is about giving kids and their families the opportunity to make the right decision."

But critics of the treatment say 11-year-olds are not old enough to make life-altering decisions about changing their gender, and parents should not be encouraging them. They say it’s too soon to tell what the side effects of the treatments may be, and they say Tommy’s parents, Pauline Moreno and Debra Lobel, are irresponsible for seeking them and allowing them to be administered.