Kosher Critic: Struggle for civility in the food industry

Jewish Star By Zechariah Mehler
hat tip Agudah Fresser

At this year’s Kosherfest, I couldn’t help but notice that the behavior of many of the attendees was slightly akin to that of your average kleptomaniac. There was the press, distributors, food industry workers or and members of the public that come for some unknown reason it certainly seemed that this year more than others the groupthink was dead set on stealing products (not just giveaways and samples mind you) from the booths that where there to showcase their wares.

I saw men walking down the tightly packed aisles totting canvas bags packed with food. Display booths that had wrapped packages torn open, pillaged by some overzealous Kosherfest goer who felt that he or she needed to stock up for a long winter on gum, jam, or soy sauce. What was truly shocking is that this Black Friday experience was on the first hour of the first day of Kosherfest.

Gov’t must explain continued kollel payments

JPost

The High Court of Justice on Wednesday demanded that the government explain within 90 days why it continues to pay income support allotments to married men studying full time in institutes for full-time, advanced study of the Talmud and rabbinic literature (kollels).

In June 2010, the High Court ruled that the government could not continue providing allotments only to ultra-Orthodox students, while other students, such as those studying at university, do not receive similar income support. The court said that the practice was illegal and discriminatory.

Ex-Canadian hockey coach pleads guilty to sexual assault

CBS News 

CBS News

Former junior hockey coach and convicted sex offender Graham James has pleaded guilty to sexual assaults involving two of his former players, including NHL star Theoren Fleury.

The move marks another chapter in what has become one of Canadian hockey's darkest stories. James entered the plea in a Winnipeg courtroom Wednesday via video link from Montreal.

The disgraced coach was originally facing nine charges of sexual assault involving three players spanning 1979 to 1994, but only pleaded guilty to charges involving two. The names of the two other players are protected under a court-ordered publication ban.

How Lakewood deals with child abuse

Jewish Week by Hella Winston 

This is a rather disappointing article which relies on a small amount of hearsay evidence and inferences made from court testimony. I am only posting this because there indeed is a problem in Lakewood that needs to be addressed.

[...] The climate is different in Lakewood, acknowledged as the seat of non-chasidic haredi Judaism in the United States. Home to one of the largest and most prominent yeshivas in the world, Beth Medrash Govoha (BMG), and a community of close to 40,000 Orthodox Jews, Lakewood has not been spared the problem of child sexual abuse — an ill that plagues all communities, religious and secular alike.

However, there are no public advocacy groups in Lakewood helping victims and agitating for change. Further, unlike Brooklyn, which is home to myriad haredi groups with no centralized “governing” body, the Lakewood community, dominated by BMG — which boasts over 6,000 students and an annual operating budget approaching $25 million — is something of a company town, residents and observers say. Indeed, the brothers who run BMG, Rabbi Aryeh Malkiel Kotler and Rabbi Aaron Kotler, exert considerable control over daily life within the community, with the bylaws of the Lakewood Jewish Community Council stating that the “community is centered around [BMG] … and [the council] functions at the pleasure of [the yeshiva heads] as represented by R. Malkiel Kotler.”

This control — bolstered by the geographically bounded and insular nature of the community — means that it can be even harder for Lakewood residents to overcome the communal taboo and report abuse to the authorities than it is for their counterparts in Brooklyn. [...]

Trial of Rabbi Mordechai Elon for indecent acts starts in Jerusalem

YNET

The trial of prominent Religious Zionism figure Rabbi Mordechai Elon commenced at the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court on Wednesday with a reading of the indictment.

Elon was indicted last November for indecent acts against two minors. The Jerusalem District Prosecution claims that the rabbi took advantage of his position as an educator and molested two teenagers on various occasions in 2003 and 2005. [...]

Rav Sternbuch 2 457 Whether to teach Tanach before Gemora

Science & Torah: Debate between Rabbi Meiselman & Rabbi Slifkin

Five Towns Jewish Times  This is a followup to Rabbi Meiselman's article in the 5 Towns Jewish Times posted here Daas Torah Blog. Further discussion is found on  Rabbi Slikfin's Blog and rebuttal by  Rabbi Dovid Kornreich's Blog Additional material is found in the recent cover article on Rabbi Meiselman in the English Mishpacha and rebutal on  Rabbi Slifkin's Blog

Rav Sternbuch 2:140 - DaasTorah regarding Jewish state

Epidemic of abuse: Child actors & Hollywood pedophiles

Fox News

If a spate of recent allegations proves true, Hollywood may have a hideous epidemic on its hands. The past two weeks have brought three separate reports of alleged child sexual abuse in the entertainment industry.

Martin Weiss, a 47-year-old Hollywood manager who represented child actors, was charged in Los Angeles on Dec. 1 with sexually abusing a former client. His accuser, who was under 12 years old during the time of the alleged abuse, reported to authorities that Weiss told him "what they were doing was common practice in the entertainment industry." Weiss has pleaded not guilty.

Revelations of this sort come as no surprise to former child star Corey Feldman. 

Feldman, 40, himself a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, unflinchingly warned of the world of pedophiles who are drawn to the entertainment industry last August. "I can tell you that the No. 1 problem in Hollywood was and is and always will be pedophilia,” Feldman told ABC’s Nightline. “That's the biggest problem for children in this industry... It's the big secret.”

Link between strep throat & mental illness

Los Angeles Times

a week after Brody became ill, he awoke one morning to find his world was no longer safe. Paranoid about germs and obsessed with cleanliness, he refused to touch things and showered several times a day. His fear prevented him from attending school, and he insisted on wearing nothing but a sheet or demanding that his mother microwave his clothes or heat them in the dryer before dressing.

So began a horrific battle with a sudden-onset mental illness that was diagnosed as pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorder associated with streptococcus, or PANDAS. The puzzling name describes children who have obsessive-compulsive disorder that occurs suddenly — and often dramatically — within days or weeks of a simple infection, such as strep throat.[...]

Bus service restored in Mea Shearim - with police protection - in war with Sikrikim

Haaretz

Bus service was restored last week to Jerusalem's Mea She'arim after a hiatus of nearly two years, in which there was no public transportation within the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood. The Egged bus cooperative had halted service due to ongoing sabotage and violence by a group of religious extremists known as the Sicarii; they threw rocks and bottles at passing buses and punctured their tires.

The Sicarii say their motives are religious: They say the "immodest" advertisements on the sides and backs of the buses, as well as the failure to impose gender segregation among passengers, offends them.

Elad's Ashkenazi & Sephardi rabbis battle over time Shabbos begins

Haaretz

The inauguration of the Sabbath in Elad has recently become the tensest hour of the week, following a disagreement between the city's Sephardic rabbi and its Ashkenazi rabbi. 

The two cannot agree on the exact time for inaugurating the Sabbath. Even the leaders of the Orthodox public, Gedolei Yisrael, were involved against their will, but a solution has not been found. 

The roots of the disagreement go back a long way: the Ashkenazi rabbi, Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Grossman, has always maintained that the Sabbath enters 30 minutes before the sun sets, while the Sephardic rabbi, Rabbi Mordechai Malka, puts it at 20 minutes. According to Halacha (Jewish law), every city is supposed to set additional time before sundown on the eve of the Sabbath. Most places allow for 20 minutes, but the Ashkenazi rabbis in Elad have refused, since the city was established, saying that a special window of time must be allowed for, as in places like Safed and Bnei Brak (30 minutes), and almost like that which is allowed for in Jerusalem and Petah Tikva (40 minutes). The Safardis acted according to their tradition, and added just 20 minutes, even when the sirens of Elad sounded according to the Ashkenazi system.

Child Abuse: Protecting Children in Jewish community, Dr. Asher Lipner, Zvi Gluck, Prof. Marci Hamilton, Rabbi Yosef Blau , Mark Appel

Zev Brenner Radio Show

An important discussion of the major positive changes that have happened in the entire range of Orthodox communities in the last year. Contrary to the previous program which was seriously marred by gratuitous accusations and insults, this one focused on the new programs and initiatives as well as the growing achdus in dealing with the problem.

The panelists of advocates included Dr. Asher Lipner who contributed a chapter to my book on abuse as well as another contributor - Dr. Alison Feit - who called in a comment. Tzvi Gluck also cited my book on child abuse as an authoritative source for Rav Sternbuch's views for a point he made. Rabbi Yosef Blau - mashigach at Y.U. - provided solid insights as a pioneer in dealing with these issues. Prof. Marci Hamilton discussed the legal issues which need to be worked out as well as the legislation which she has been active in. Veteran advocate Mark Appel made a cogent argument for the need for the community to provide greater support for the victims as well as how he has been an active supporter of some of the efforts of the Agudah as well other programs.

A Gemach: Traditional Jewish Loan Program Helps Ease Pain of Tough Economic Times

new york times

Now 39 years old and serving as the rabbi of a Chabad center near Atlanta, Rabbi Minkowicz has done something he never expected: open a gemach that deals primarily with non-Orthodox Jews in a prosperous stretch of suburbia. The reason, quite simply, is the prolonged downturn in the American economy, which has driven up the number of Jews identified by one poverty expert as the “middle-class needy.”

The same phenomenon has appeared in Jewish communities across the country, albeit most often in those with existing Orthodox populations already familiar with the gemach system. This institution rooted in Biblical and Talmudic teachings and named for Hebrew words meaning “bestowal of kindness” (“gemilut chasadim”) is now meeting needs created by such resolutely modern causes as sub-prime mortgages, out-sourcing and credit-default swaps.