Yair Lapid: Video of what a poor boxer he was 20 years ago

Tablet Magazine  discovers an old video clip of Yair Lapid outclassed in the boxing ring  Tablet - vacuous celebrity candidates are bad news "But slogans and gimmicks—Lapid playing Beatles songs on his guitar in front of adoring audiences, ... —are one thing. Deficits are another. Israel’s currently stands at nearly $10 billion, equivalent to 4.2 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, double the number originally allotted for by the state’s budget. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz have sworn up and down that taxes would not be raised nor deep spending cuts enacted. It’s hard to imagine how either measure is avoidable en route to recovery."

Education Ministry threatens chareidi schools over core curriculum - 4 months to comply!

YNET   On the path to another confrontation with the haredim: Ynet has learned that the Education Ministry will inform the High Court of Justice Wednesday that if within four months, the haredi educational system does not reach an agreement with the State regarding the issue of core studies, the government will propose a law obligating them to introduce core subjects to all state schools, including Meitzav standardized testing (tests examining schools’ efficiency and growth measures). 

The response of the Education Ministry will be given to the High Court following an appeal that was filed in 2010 by the Israel Religious Action Center – of the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism. In the coming days, talks will begin between the Education Ministry and representatives of the haredi community, in an attempt to summarize understandings over the next few months, and avoid conflict with the haredi sector.  

Education Minister Shai Piron announced during budget discussions that he would work to establish haredi public schools while cutting budgets to haredi tracks. The scheduled negotiations are part of this move. In the coming days, Director General of the Education Ministry Dalit Stauber is expected to meet with representatives of the schools to promote the plan. [...]

The "hate crime against gays" blamed on Chareidim turns out to be personal revenge

YNet see background by Avi Shafran Eli Yishai demands an apology
 They were four partners in crime who swore to never mention it. It was the terrible secret of the 2009 shooting at the Barnoar youth center in Tel Aviv that bound them together – an incident that sent shockwaves through the entire nation. Thousands were investigated in connection with the shootings, millions of shekels were spent to no avail, until one of the four felt betrayed and spoke to police.

On Tuesday, one day after the farce surrounding the lifting and restoring the gag order on the details of the case, the gag order on the publication of the name of the main suspect in the 2009 youth center shooting was lifted. Police said 23-year-old Pardes Katz resident Hagai Felician is suspected of shooting two people dead [...]

It has been also cleared for publication that Felician carried out the deadly attack to avenge the sexual abuse of his 15-year-old relative by a grown man he expected to be at the center.

Nir Katz, 26, and Liz Trubeshi, 16 were killed on the August 1, 2009 when a veiled man entered the Barnoar LGBT youth center in Tel Aviv and began shooting at the teens gathered there. Eleven others were injured.

How do we know Weberman is guilty of abuse? - posts discussing the evidence

Satmar still has not given up in trying to free Weberman and is conducting a compaign against his conviction, jailing and his victim. The following are some of the important posts regarding the guilt of Weberman which you can show to his defenders.

There seems to be an inherent belief in these people that any male who is convicted of sexual abuse of a woman or child must be innocent. Furthermore anyone who has been convicted by the secular goverment must be innocent. Finally anyone who is a talmid chachom, a nice guy and has ever done anything for the community is incapable of committing a crime.

These are the posts dealing with the validity of the guilty verdict in the Weberman trial

http://daattorah.blogspot.co.il/2012/12/rabbi-y-horowitz-update-re-weberma-trial.html

http://daattorah.blogspot.co.il/2012/12/rabbi-ronnie-greenwalds-view-of.html

http://daattorah.blogspot.co.il/2012/09/pearl-engelman-who-is-nechemia-weberman.html

http://daattorah.blogspot.co.il/2012/12/how-do-we-know-weberman-is-guilty-as.html

Haaretz sympathizes with Satmar rally's call for religious freedom

Haaretz   Until now, the primary storyline of the religious-secular battles in Israel has been driven by Women of the Wall, the activist group that, with their monthly prayer meetings at Jerusalem’s Western Wall, have brought more attention to the quest for religious equality in Israel than has been seen in years. 

But with the massive Haredi protest at the Wall last month, and Sunday’s large showing in Lower Manhattan, the Haredim have begun to mobilize. 

The immediate issue which brought thousands to Foley Square on Sunday is the attempt to conscript Haredi Israelis into the army. A parliamentary committee advanced a bill last month that would do just that. But the banner under which the protestors gathered on Sunday surprised me a little, as it’s one that has been largely the domain of religious liberals: freedom of religion.

As one sign carrier told me, his religion requires him to sit and study Torah. Any attempt to draft those like him into the military would be a violation of his religious rights.

 

It has generally been the liberals who have taken this line (in several cases, to the Israeli Supreme Court), arguing that religious law should not be the law of the land, and that Reform and Conservative Jews also have rights, in particular at the Western Wall. The effort has borne fruit, leading to a court ruling in favor of women’s prayer at the Kotel and an announcement by the Religious Services Ministry that it would institute changes to allow for the funding of non-Orthodox rabbis. The support that such efforts have drawn from the ranks of American Jews shows that the quest for religious equality is a resonant one.[...] 

Wife of Lev Tahor cult leader leaves him saying she was seriously beaten

BHOL       see Pure as the driven snow in Haaretz

אי שם במחוז קוויבק שבערבות קנדה, מנהל שלמה הלברנץ כת דתית קיצונית והזויה בשם 'לב טהור'. קשה אפילו להתחיל להבין את אורחות החיים הסגפניים שהכתיב הלברנץ לעשרות מאמיניו, ויותר קשה לאמוד את מקור הכוח באמצעותו הוא שולט בחייהם מדי יום, ללא הפרעה.

מתחת לפני השטח, מתנהלת דרמה ענקית, המטלטלת את הכת ומאיימת עליה לראשונה איום קיומי של ממש. זה החל לפני מספר שבועות, כאשר תחת מעטה של חשאיות נמלטה מהכת לישראל מלכה הלברנץ, שהיא לא פחות מאשר רעייתו של מנהיג הכת.

בהקלטה בלעדית ומצמררת, הנחשפת לראשונה ב'בחדרי חרדים', מגלה מלכה כי הסיבה העיקרית לבריחה הגדולה היא אלימות שחוותה.

Lakewood Wakeup! Your rabbis need to publicly apologize for their public abuse of Rabbi "S"

After Yosef Kolko publicly confessed to raping a child, there has been studied silence from his supporters. We are not talking about some psychopaths who enjoyed destroying a distinguished talmid chachom and his family and driving them out of Lakewood for trying to defend his son according to the halacha. We are talking about the rabbinical leadership of Lakewood who lynched one of its own. We are talking about rabbis who get up before their congregations and tell them that they should be good and not speak lashon harah. Rabbis who are makpid that everyone should observe the most exacting chumros of kashrus and Shabbos. Rabbis who have devoted their lives and considerable talents to building one of the most important Torah communities in the world. We are talking about the failure of the spiritual leaders of the community!

It is astounding to me -  as a fellow Torah Jew and human being - that these rabbis who led the lynch mobs against Rabbi "S" are now silent when it has been revealed to all intelligent rational beings that they were wrong about Yosef Kolko. I am ashamed that these rabbis who have set themselves as paragons of Torah knowledge and conduct - have failed in the most elementary task - to repent and to publicly apologize to the man that they recently terrorized in the name of halacha.

It is clear - as the letters I received from Rabbi Goldin (president of the RCA) and others show - that there are many who are very uncomfortable with the lack of menschlikeit and failure to follow the halacha of publicly apologizing for their egregious error. While there are in fact some of those who terrorized Rabbi "S" - who have apologized to him in private. and even publicly- these are the very rare exception.

As a consequence of the moral and halachic cowardice of these rabbis, Lakewood is splitting into two camps. There are many avreichim who are ashamed of their rabbis. Who have lost respect for them as moral leaders. Who now have no one to turn to for "daas Torah". These are hurt and bitter individuals who will pass on this poison of cynicism and distrust for rabbinical authority to their children.  They are afraid to speak up themselves because they are totally dependent on the "system" for their existence - but they no longer are believers in the "system". They have effectively dropped out - yet remain as a fifth column in our community. The other camp is no less dangerous. These are people who refuse to believe the overwhelming evidence of Yosef Kolko's guilt - and are convinced more than ever that the world is only interested in destroying frum yidden. These are fanatics who are not capable of dealing with reality themselves - but only accept that which there rabbis tell them.  Just as emunas chachomim was destroyed by the public fight between Rav Yaakov Emden and Rav Yonason Eybschuetz  in the 18th century and which prepared the ground for the destructive forces of Reform and the Haskala - so too is the clash between those who want to accept reality and those who deny it.

It is therefore important that people convey to the rabbis of Lakewood their pained feelings and damaged emunas chachomim. It is critical for these rabbis to be aware of the horrible price the Jewish people will pay for their failure to provide moral leadership. It is imperative that the Lakewood rabbis publicly apologize to Rabbi "S" and clear the poisonous atmosphere that has developed because of the Kolko case. From what I understand he would welcome the opportunity to forgive those who have hurt him and to get on with life. It is time to stop obsessing over minor factors for kids going off the derech as well as other suffering in our community and to stand up and confront the real problems. 

Weberman case: 3 who confessed to intimidating witnesses get no jail time

NY Daily News Three Brooklyn brothers admitted they tried to bully the boyfriend of a Hasidic sex abuse victim before an explosive trial but received no jail time from the judge Thursday.

Three Brooklyn brothers admitted they tried to bully the boyfriend of a Hasidic sex abuse victim before an explosive trial but received no jail time from the judge Thursday.

Although prosecutors insisted they should get at least 30 days in jail for misdemeanor coercion, Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun allowed the trio to plead guilty and get conditional discharge.

Amazing views inside the human body

Daily Mail

Rav Yisroel Belsky: Why contrary to the Kolko case he says to report abuse to police without any requirement to consult a rav first!

 [Update: Sunday June 9 - Rabbi Shmuel Goldin (president of the RCA responds]
The following letter appears on the RCA website  with the clear unambiguous statement to go to the police in cases of known or credible evidence of abuse. Of critical importance - it doesn't state that this is conditional on first consulting a rav. Statements such as this by a posek of Rav Belsky stature as well as the RCA are welcome and help clarify the haze that was created by the various conflicting statements of Agudas Israel and others on this matter.

The obvious question is, why in the recent Kolko case did Rav Belsky publicly state that going to the police was mesira while in this letter he states that one should go to the police -  without mentioning consulting a rav first. Furthermore the victim's father only went to the police after going to beis din. And only after Kolko stopped the treatment required by the beis din and Rav Sternbuch poskened that he go to the police - only then did he do so. Despite this known chain of events - Rav Belsky still labeled the victim's father a moser! Why?  Click link for other documents in Kolko case

The obvious answer is that despite Kolko confession in court - Rav Belsky knows that Kolko is innocent because of his own investigation into the matter. This is similar to the statement of Rav Yitzchok Zilberstein that only rabbis know whether a person is innocent or guilty - not the police and not psychologists. I would also conjecture that both Rav Belsky and Rav Zilberstein would agree with the recent pronouncements of Rabbi Handler that one should always consult gedolim since they have divine assistance in these matters - something which is obviously not available to the police or psychologists. (Of course it is important to note Rav Belsky's earlier letter not only says Kolko was innocent but that the father of the victim was the abuser - which if made by a lesser figure would clearly constitute a vicious slander since there  is absolutely no evidence to support the accusation.) All this would seem to imply that - since Rav Belsky and Rav Zilberstein apparently view themselves infallible in their judgements - Yosef Kolko's confession constitutes kefira by implying that Rav Belsky made a mistake. Perhaps Rav Belsky was mochel because he felt that Yosef Kolko only confessed because he thought it would save himself from a longer prison sentence.

Thus we are faced with a disturbing question. If we are to rely on Rav Belsky's infallibility then why is he telling people to go to the police - without first going to a rav? If he is not infallible then we are faced with an incredible chilul hashem made by one of the greatest American poskim - who not only mistakenly declared a pedophile innocent but has greatly compounded the problem by slandering the father and causing him to be driven out of Lakewood. Rav Belsky apparently alludes to this confusion about his true position when he states in his letter, "though some of misunderstood my position". However I fail to see a rational resolution of the apparent contradictions in Rav Belsky's statements. Perhaps somebody can enlighten me in this matter. Hopefully the RCA will issue a clarification to prevent severe damage not only Rav Belsky's credibility but that of the RCA.
==================================
If you share my confusion please respectfully send a copy of this post to the OU and RCA

Martin Nachminson      Steven Stavitksy    Rabbi Steven Weil    Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb
Rabbi Menachem Genack      Rabbi Mark Dratch     Rabbi Shmuel Goldin

I just sent the following message:

I have been involved for a number of years dealing with various aspects of child abuse and have published three seforim dealing with the subject under the guidance and encouragement of Rav Moshe Sternbuch shlita.  One of the most  problematic issues is that of mesira and one of the most troubling cases is that of the recent Yosef Kolko case. Even more troubling is the reported actions of Rav Yisroel Belsky shlita - especially when they seem to be contrary to the stated position of the RCA.

I just wrote a post on my blog Daas Torah regarding Rav Yisoel Belsky's views on reporting child abuse to the police.  http://daattorah.blogspot.co.il/2013/06/rav-yisroel-belsky-why-contrary-to.html

I respectfully request an explanation of how Rav Belsky's actions in this case are consistent with the accepted halacha regarding mesira as well as the RCA guidelines in reporting child abuse to the police?

kol tuv,

Daniel Eidensohn Ph.D. 

==================================

Rav Belsky's letter in defense of Yosef Kolko which circulated Lakewood [click link for Hebrew]

My ears should have been spared hearing the horrific news that one of your fellow residents in town informed upon a fellow Jew to the hands of the secular authorities,may god spare us,for which the [Jewish]law is undisputed that one who commits such an act has no share in the world to come. (see:Choshen Mishpat 388:4)After conducting a thorough investigation I am absolutely certain that R' Y.K.[Yosef Kolko],may his light shine, is perfectly innocent of any wrongdoing of any nature whatsoever. And not only is he innocent but it is also as cleartone that all these allegations are fabrications made by [REDACTED].

Further, all the reports made to the secular authorities were only for the express purpose of casting blame for their[the victim's family] own shameful and cursed existence on others. And the truth is that the allegations they make against others are crimes they themselves are in fact guilty of and they seek to cleanse their reputation by blaming an innocent man for their own deeds.

Accordingly, as it is a great mitzvah to rescue the pursued from the hands of the pursuer and to make it known that the righteous man is right and the evil man is evil‐to rescue a pure and righteous soul. Therefore, anyone who has the ability to rescue the righteous and does not do so is considered as if he is himself the pursuer. (See: Rambam ‐ laws regarding informing 1: 14) Thus, all who have the ability to influence the informers that they should retract their terrible deeds
should do so. 

Rav Belsky's recent letter posted on the RCA web site:

The necessity and problems of getting Chareidim integrated into Israeli society

NY Times   One ultra-Orthodox job-seeker listed on his résumé, under technical skills, his success in building a hut on his porch for the annual fall harvest holiday and preparing his kitchen for Passover. Another brought a curriculum vitae handwritten on fax paper, folded in his pocket.  

When Binyamin Yazdi, an employment counselor, asks ultra-Orthodox clients their e-mail addresses, many respond, “What’s that?” 

Israel has been consumed in recent months with the challenge of integrating the insular, swelling ultra-Orthodox minority, known as Haredim, into society. The animating theme of the last election campaign was a call for Haredim — and Israeli Arabs — to “share the burden” of citizenship, particularly in military service, and last week a Parliament committee approved legislation to end widespread draft exemptions for yeshiva students. 

But while the draft is the emotional issue that has drawn thousands to protests, the low number of ultra-Orthodox men with jobs is much more important, with a dire effect on the economy in terms of productivity, taxes and the drain caused by welfare payments. 

Because of Orthodox men’s commitment to full-time Torah study and a fear of assimilation, only a little more than 4 in 10 of them work, less than half the rate of other Jewish men in Israel, and their average salaries are 57 percent of other Jewish men in the country. Nearly 60 percent of Haredi families live in poverty, and by 2050 they are expected to make up more than a quarter of Israel’s population. 

“It’s clear this is a situation which cannot continue,” Stanley Fischer, the departing governor of the Bank of Israel, declared this spring, a warning underlined in a recent report to the cabinet from the National Economic Council. 

Without a radical change, cautioned Yedidia Z. Stern of the Israel Democracy Institute, “the Israeli economy will collapse in two decades.”[...]

Rav Yisroel Salanter & the Godol M'Minsk give each other berachos

   הגדול ממינסק   This is an excerpt found on page 34

כנסוע הריי"ל מוקנה בא לפני ר' ישראל סלנטר להפריד ממנו ויאמר לו: "רבי ברכני". ויאמר אליו רי"ס: "לא רבך אני, כי נפרדים אנו בתכונותינו ושיטתנו. אני עוסק בכלל ומעלים עין לפעמים מן הפרט. ובך אני וראה כי אין לך חפץ וכשרון לעניני כלל ואתה ערסק רק בפרט, בהשלמת נפשך. עלי אני מתפלל: הלואי שהכלליות שבי לא תפסיד את הפרטיות שבי . ולך אומר: 'יהי רצון שהפרט שלך יהי משוכלל ומושלם באופן שתוכל להיות מופת לרבים ודוגמא להכלל . ואתה, בן התורה, הלא ידעת כי התורה נדרשת בכלל ופרט, ויש כלל הצריך לפרט, ויש פרט הצריך לכלל . ואם כן לפי האמת אין פירוד בינינו , וכל גבר במסלתו וכשרונו ילך , ובלבד שלא ;יעבט את ארחותיו. ואתה ר' ירוחם ברכני גם אני". ויען הצעיר בסגנון מאמר חז"ל הידוע (תענית ה:)” אילן אילן , במה אברכך? אם בתורה וחכמה - הלא באלה ידך רב לך. ואם במוםר ומרות, הלא אתה חוא שר אוצרותיהם. ואם בעושר וכבוד, הלא אתה ממאם בהם ומבטלם כעפרא דארעא. אלא יהי רצון שיהיו צאצאי רוחך , המה תלמידיך , כמותך , ולא תעלה עליהם קנאת אדם ושנאתם , ולא תבוש ולא תבלם בהם לא בעולם הזה ולא בעולם הבא". ר' ישראל אנגיד ואתנח [חולין נז.] , ויפרד ממנו בנשיקה.

But Is It Tzedakah? by Rabbi Yair Hoffman

5tjt   A couple of years ago, a wealthy individual from Lawrence wanted to produce a documentary on “Meshulachim” and those who collect Tzedakah in shuls.  One of those to be interviewed was told that he would receive a rather large sum of money if he would merely answer a few questions honestly.  It was an opportunity to earn significantly more than he was to make by soliciting funds.The arrangement was that, while he did not have to volunteer information, he did have to answer all of the questions to be posed in an honest manner.  If there was any question as to his honesty, he would not receive the funds.  The person readily agreed to the arrangement.

The exchange went something along the lines of this:

“Good morning, what are you collecting for?”

“Hachnasas Kallah.”

“Mazal Tov! Whose hachnasas kallah?”

“Well, my own.”

 “Mazal Tov!  When is the wedding?”

 “Well the date has not been established yet.”

 “Okay.  Where is the Kallah from?”

“There is no Kallah yet, I have not found her yet.”

 “Oh, I see.”

“How much, do you collect on average per week?”

 “Between $700 to $800 per week..”

We will stop at this point in the conversation to get to the halachic topic at hand.  Is there a communal obligation to support an individual who purposefully chooses not to work, but rather to collect charitable funds?  [...]

Lakewood: How it redefined the nature of American Orthodox Judaism

Tablet Magazine [...] There are assuredly many factors that have contributed to the success of the Lakewood yeshiva, chief among them its determination to be the American yeshiva with the best students and the highest standards. There is another important factor, however, one that went unexamined in the articles published and speeches delivered on the occasion of the yahrzeit: Lakewood’s seamless integration into American society. Although Reb Aharon (as the founder is referred to within the yeshiva world) was radically countercultural, an uncompromising opponent of the American pursuit of wealth and pleasure, his yeshiva has made its peace with American bourgeois values. Many of Lakewood’s alumni sacrifice financially to pursue vocations as educators and community rabbis, and a few do spend their lives in penurious full-time study, but most enter the business world and build lives of white-collar respectability and commercial success, with the attendant trappings of a comfortable suburban lifestyle. Lakewood’s integration of yeshiva ideology and American capitalist lifestyle has been the object of critique from the more hardline Israeli Haredis whose uncompromising stance has put them at odds with the larger society in which they live. But it is these baalebatim, or householders, and others like them who provide the substantial financial support necessary to keep the Lakewood yeshiva, as well as the many other community institutions, going and growing. [...]


The “Primacy of Torah” was an apt phrase for the motto for the azkarah, as it hints that there is something else that serves as a necessary supplement to the study of Torah, namely making money. The pragmatic approach of Lakewood stands in stark contrast to that of the Lithuaninan Haredi community in Israel, where the prevailing ideology is one of “Only Torah.” Yeshiva students there are expected to devote their entire lives to the study of Torah; secular education and jobs are actively discouraged. According to Dr. Benjamin Brown, a Hebrew University lecturer whose research focus is Orthodox Judaism and Haredi society, Israeli Haredis view their American counterparts with a measure of condescension: The bourgeois lifestyle of American Haredis may be acceptable “for them” in America, but not in Israel, where the Haredis hold themselves to a higher, less compromising, and more austere standard. Torah study itself in America is also considered by Israeli Haredis to be on a lower level, which Brown believes is supported by the fact that “American bochurim [unmarried yeshiva students] come to learn in Israel, not vice versa.” The same perspective was shared with me by Rabbi Yehoshua Pfeffer, a Haredi religious court judge in Jerusalem. According to Pfeffer, the “mainstream” Israeli Haredi “looks upon his Lakewood counterpart as being part of the American experience of affluence and luxury and generally believes that Torah greatness cannot emerge from America—even from Lakewood.”

I asked Aaron Kotler what he thought of these assessments of Lakewood by Israeli Haredis and, not surprisingly, like a good CEO, he declined to respond. Kotler does not appear to harbor within himself any doubts concerning the rectitude of Lakewood’s religious path and its scholarly achievements, and he would therefore have no need to defend himself and his institution. He may also recognize that behind the critique there lies covert respect or even admiration. Pfeffer noted that Lakewood, and the American Haredi community more generally, is perceived by Israeli Haredis to be more “tolerant,” allowing its members “greater freedom of choice in leading their lives: the choice to work rather than learn is not shunned, the dress code is not as rigid … and the ‘prohibitions’ (against iPhones, iPads, etc.) are more flexible.” Although some see this greater tolerance and flexibility as evidence of weakness and compromise, others “admire the American model and wish there could be more tolerance and freedom of choice in the Israeli Haredi experience,” he said. As the constraints barring young Haredi men from entering the workforce and business world in Israel are beginning to loosen, and with the political pressure unleashed in the last election on Haredi society to “share the burden,” the Lakewood model may become more than a secret wish. The “primacy” of Torah may one day rival or supplant the Israeli Haredi ideology of “only” Torah—another example, perhaps, of the steady Americanization of Israeli society.