Boston College Conference on Divorce :Changes in Orthodox Judaism

Dr Noblitt - garbage science of the Mind Control of the Satanic abuse ring panic in America

The process is

 

In 1992, at the height of a social hysteria now commonly referred to as “the Satanic Panic”, Dr. Noblitt — believing he could disentangle the coercive subliminal sounds of secret demonic code within popular music, as well as decrypt the hidden meanings behind seemingly mundane occurrences — testified for the prosecution, as an “expert” in the field of “ritual abuse”, against one Fran and Dan Keller, a couple accused of engaging in child abuse at their home-based day care center. With no physical evidence to support the accusations (which included claims of graveyard rituals and medically undetected limb transplants) the couple was convicted on the most dubious of testimony. The children themselves — ignored when they claimed they were not abused at all (as happened even in testimony) — were led by coercive and incompetent interrogations to produce claims of abuse which are nearly impossible to credit [see footage and analysis of one such interrogation embedded below]. Noblitt’s own fantastical testimony, of course, was no more credible than Noblitt himself.

21 years later, the Kellers still sit in prison, their case on appeal.

Dr. Evan Harrington, Associate Professor at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, wrote the below letter [following the embedded videos] — on behalf of the Kellers’ recent appeal — to the 14th District Court in Travis County, Texas, outlining the absurdities, shoddy methods, and scientific ignorance demonstrated by Dr. Randy Noblitt, concluding, “His opinions have been scientifically discredited, and are not shared by the vast majority of clinicians and researchers within the field of psychology.” The letter, bearing signatures of support from various esteemed social and behavioral scientists, reveals a disturbing portrait of Dr. Noblitt as a delusional man obstinately oblivious to any and all facts that serve to disconfirm his paranoid theories. The letter is a damning indictment against the institutions that would recognize such a clearly problematic character for an “expert”. The letter further raises grave doubts regarding the credibility of Alliant University, where Dr. Noblitt serves on faculty, still purveying the irrational narrative of a long discredited, thoroughly debunked hysteria.

Aharon Friedman assaulted in wife's driveway when returning child

Update: March 23, 2015  NJ.Com

 Fredric Goldfein told jurors in the federal conspiracy and kidnapping trial of Rabbi Mendel Epstein that in his efforts to get a Maryland man to agree to a divorce, Epstein instructed him to wire $60,000 to two of the congregations he led.
A few days after the money was transferred to Epstein's congregations, the husband, Aharon Friedman, was attacked on July 29, 2012, by three men at the home of his former in-laws in Pennsylvania in an attempt to force him to issue the divorce.
Goldfein, who is a rabbi, said he was led to believe the money was to go to the husband, Friedman, as part of his agreement to grant his wife a religious divorce so that she would eventually be permitted to remarry in the Orthodox Jewish community.
Entering their sixth week of trial, federal prosecutors on Monday showed bank records indicating four payments totaling $60,000 to Epstein's congregations in March and April of 2012, Congregation Kol Reuven and Congregation Beth Jacob, and Goldfein said Friedman did not receive the $60,000.

Update: March 20 2015 Tamar Epstein's lawyer Fredric Goldfein, is being asked to testify in the Mendel Epstein Torture for Get Trial. The U.S. Attorney is assuming he will take the 5th regarding whether Tamar had hired someone to beat her husband  - something which Goldfein has preveiously denied.

Concerned • a year ago

http://washingtonjewishweek.co...
Tamar Epstein's lawyer continues to mislead (to put it charitably) in new Washington Jewish Week article: Epstein’s attorney, Fredric Goldfein, gave an emphatic “no” when asked if Epstein had hired anyone to beat Friedman, adding he wasn’t even sure Friedman’s allegations “amounted to anything.”

updated

Guest Post August 5, 2012:  the police number is 1207290113 it is missing on the police blotter available on the internet as are many other numbers as it is an ongoing investigation

Don't cast aspersions on the accuracy of the information that is posted by Rabbi Eidensohn.  Aharon was attacked last  Sunday (Tisha B'Av) on the Epstein's property as he returned his loving child to the Epstein's house.  Those calling for Rabbi Eidensohn to apologize for supposedly posting a fabricated incident, themselves owe an apology to Aharon, and Rabbi Eidensohn - not to mention the child, who was nearby when the attack occurred.

 As a result of the attack there was an emergency change in the custody arrangements.According to the Maryland court docket system, which is available on the Internet, the docket for the case has an entry dated 8//3/12 stating:

 HEARING (SALANT, J.) ON PLAINTIFF'S
VERIFIED EMERGENCY MOTION TO MODIFY LOCATION OF TRANSITIONS AND
CUSTODY. - GRANTED. ORDER SIGNED.

Docket Date:	08/03/2012 Docket Number: 179
Docket Description:	MOTION, CHANGE OF CUSTODY (RESIDENTIAL)
Docket Type:	Motion Filed By: Plaintiff Status: Granted
Reference Docket(s):	Ruling: 181
Docket Text:	PLAINTIFF'S VERIFIED EMERGENCY MOTION TO MODIFY LOCATION OF TRANSITIONS AND CUSTODY, STATEMENT OF GROUNDS AND AUTHORITIES, CERTIFICATION UNDER MD. RULES 1-204 (B) AND 1-351, AND ATTACHMENT, FILED.

---

Docket Date:	08/03/2012 Docket Number: 180
Docket Description:	SUMMONS ISSUED
Docket Type:	Docket Filed By: Court
Docket Text:	SUMMONS ISSUED FOR PERSONAL SERVICE AND HANDED TO ATTORNEY.

---

Docket Date:	08/03/2012 Docket Number: 181
Docket Description:	HEARING
Docket Type:	Ruling Filed By: Court Status: Granted
Ruling Judge:	SALANT, STEVEN G
Reference Docket(s):	Motion: 179
Docket Text:	HEARING (SALANT, J.) ON PLAINTIFF'S VERIFIED EMERGENCY MOTION TO MODIFY LOCATION OF TRANSITIONS AND CUSTODY. (#179) - GRANTED. ORDER SIGNED. PLAINTIFF APPEARED WITH COUNSEL MS. MCGRATH. MS. ENGLE APPEARED BY PHONE ON BEHALF OF DEFENDANT, WHO WAS NOT PRESENT.
Audio Media:	15-080312 Start: 14:40:51 Stop: 15:13:41

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

Guest Post: On Tisha B’av, a vicious attempted abduction of Aharon Friedman took place in on the property of Mrs. Cheryl Epstein, where Tamar Epstein and Aharon and Tamar's child currently reside. The attempted abduction took place as Aharon was leaving the property having returned his child to Mrs. Cheryl Epstein’s residence, pursuant to a court order. This vicious assault appears to be a continuation of the Epsteins’ ongoing efforts to prevent the child from having a relationship with her loving and dedicated father, which began over four years ago when Tamar Epstein abducted the child from Silver Spring to her mother’s home in Pennsylvania

The Epsteins’ campaign, coordinated with ORA, has included many threats against Aharon and ongoing harassment of him, his family, and his employer. In fact, various family members who have helped transport the child to ensure that Aharon can see her at all per a court order have been harassed at the very location where the assault took place, the property of Mrs. Cheryl Epstein. The child spent this past weekend of Shabbos Chazon with Aharon. By the order of the court, acting at Tamar’s request, father and child were restricted to the Philadelphia area. They spent Shabbos in a motel room, and Sunday, Tisha B’av, was spent 'walking the streets' as the Epsteins have, for over four years, made Aharon a pariah in the Philadelphia area and threatened anyone who would even think of providing a place to stay for Aharon and his child. The need for revenge has blinded Tamar and her family to the suffering she is inflicting on her child

Per the court order, Aharon brought the child to Mrs. Cheryl Epstein‘s home at 6 PM on Tisha B’av. Contrary to her usual lack of reception, when Aharon arrived, Mrs. Cheryl Epstein inquired about the child, speaking to Aharon for the first time in years. In fact, in an unprecedented instruction, she told the child to go back outside and give her father a kiss, calling into question her motivation, given what was to happen moments later on her own driveway. With the child nearby, two or three masked thugs hit Aharon over the head and knocked him to the ground. Did the Epstein family plan this attack on Aharon when he would be in a weakened state from fasting and be handicapped by wearing Tisha B‘av shoes? The thugs smashed his glasses and beat him. Miraculously,with Hashem’s chesed, Aharon escaped. The police were summoned and verified the incident with an eyewitness.

Mrs. Epstein resides in an upscale neighborhood with a low crime rate. Because Aharon’s car was intact and the car keys were on the ground, the motive cannot be construed as an attempted robbery. Aharon was sent to a local hospital for tests and treatment.
There have been numerous tragic incidents of Jewish fathers being abducted and beaten, but this time the thugs did not succeed in abducting Aharon. Are we to surmise that there is more to come?
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Additional guest post comments:

Rabbi Hershel Schachter's incitement to violence against Aharon

The violent attack against Aharon Friedman was at least partially the result of the incitement to violence against Aharon by various rabbis and organizations.  In this letter (see link below) that was publicized by ORA, Rabbi Hershel Schachter calls for Aharon to be physically beaten.  It is not yet known whether Rabbi Schachter was involved in hiring the thugs that attacked and attempted to kidnap Aharon on Tisha B'av.

One of the sources Rabbi Schachter cites in the letter against Aharon (Rabbi Akiva Eiger) is referenced in an audio lecture by Rabbi Schachter that is on Yeshiva University’s website: http://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/739308/Rabbi_Hershel_Schachter/Options_for_Helping_Agunot# as grounds for beating someone over a get. (It is ironic that Rabbi Eiger writes about a husband who is leaving the city of the marital residence and that immediate action was necessary, whereas in this matter it was Epstein who left the city of marital residence with the child and abused the beis din process so that her abduction of the child would be treated as a fait accompli in court.)

In the letter, Rabbi Schachter says that Aharon's situation is the same as "a slave whose master provides for him a Canaanite maidservant, that until now it is has been permissible, and now it is forbidden." In the audio, he explains that in such a situation the slave, or, as he writes in the letter, Aharon, should be beaten. Furthermore, Rabbi Schachter specifically writes in the letter that any person can take the law into his own hands [to beat Aharon].

See in particular:
4:00 - beat someone over a get (citing Rabbi Akiva Eiger)
4:30 - beat a slave for wrongfully remaining married to maidservant, analogizing this case to the get case, and that anyone can take upon himself to take the law into their own hands to beat the person
9:10 - beat someone up over a get
10:20 - bludgeon someone to death over a get
13:33 - have right to beat someone over a get (citing Rabbi Akiva Eiger)
26:50 - beating for a get with a baseball bat

Rabbi Schachter’s letter can be found at Daas Torah here: http://daattorah.blogspot.com/2012/04/rav-schachter-i-relied-on-rav.html

Lynch Mob - The self-righteous pleasure of killing an innocent person

Washington Post    Afghan woman, killed by a mob for a crime she didn’t commit, becomes a rallying point for activists

Four days ago, an Afghan woman named Farkhunda lay on the ground beneath the flailing, kicking feet of dozens of men. Her face swollen and bright with blood, she attempted to stand and plead for mercy. But her attackers, who accused her of burning a Koran, kicked her back and exchanged their feet for stones and wooden planks. Before it was over, Farkhunda’s body would be thrown from a rooftop, run over by a car and then set ablaze on a bank of the muddy Kabul River.

On Sunday, Farkhunda’s body lay in a coffin carried on the shoulders of several black-clad Afghan women. Bucking tradition, these pallbearers took on a role usually designated to men, conveying Farkhunda’s coffin to an open-air prayer ground and then to her grave.[...]

But General Mohammad Zahir, the head of the interior ministry’s criminal investigation directorate, said at the funeral Sunday he had reviewed the evidence and concluded Farkhunda was “totally innocent.”

“Last night I went through all documents and evidence once again, but I couldn’t find any evidence to say Farkhunda burnt the Holy Koran,” he told reporters. [...]

Muslim Scholar, Looking to ‘Speak the Truth,’ Teaches the Holocaust and Islam

NY Times    Early in the summer of 2007, a doctoral student named Mehnaz M. Afridi traveled from her California home to a conference in southern Germany. Her official role was to deliver a paper on anti-Semitism in Egyptian literature, a rather loaded subject for a Muslim scholar. Seventy miles away, she had another appointment, and an even riskier agenda.

After the conference concluded, Ms. Afridi drove to the former concentration camp in Dachau, Germany. As she stood before the dun bricks of a crematorium, she prayed. “Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un,” she said in Arabic, meaning, “Surely we belong to God and to him shall we return.”

“I didn’t know that moment would be defining my role,” Dr. Afridi, 44, said a few weeks ago. “I didn’t even realize then that I was at a crossroads. People see the Holocaust and Islam as two separate things, but these stories of faith and catastrophe are not opposites. They are companions.”

Dr. Afridi has made these seeming irreconcilables into companions in her life’s work. An assistant professor of religion at Manhattan College, she teaches courses about both Islam and the Holocaust, and she is director of the college’s Holocaust, Genocide and Interfaith Education Center. Her book “Shoah Through Muslim Eyes,” referring to an alternative term for the Holocaust, will be published in July, and she is a member of the ethics and religion committee of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington.

Such roles have made Dr. Afridi both a valued intermediary and a visible target in the troubled relations between Muslims and Jews. As her research unflinchingly shows, a strain of Holocaust denial runs deep in the Arab-Muslim world. Holocaust recognition among Arabs and Muslims, less noticed but equally divisive, has also served as a means of delegitimizing Israel and Zionism. By this line of reasoning, which ignores the historical ties of Jews to Israel, the Holocaust was a crime inflicted by Europeans for which Palestinians paid the price.[...]

"Unchained at Last": Organization helps women escape forced marriages

NY Times    Unchained at Last operates in the contested crossroad between the modern secular concept of marriage for love between consenting adults and longstanding ethnic or communal customs of arranged marriage. Religion does not require such marriage, but is very often invoked to provide moral justification for it. And the laws of certain faiths, Orthodox Judaism in particular, give a husband the sole right to grant a divorce.

A reliable estimate of arranged marriages is difficult because the definition is inexact. But the Tahirih Justice Center, an advocacy group for immigrant women, reported that about 3,000 cases of “forced marriage” took place in the United States from 2009 through 2011.

Almost all of the 90 women whom Unchained at Last has helped had been pressured into marriage by their religious community: Orthodox Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Mormon, Unification Church. Most lived in the New York area, though one was in Arizona. The women’s nations of origin stretch through Africa, the Middle East and South Asia.

On a basic level, Unchained at Last provides legal services because most of the women’s cases involve divorce and child custody litigation, and some extend into immigration status and restraining orders against a violent spouse. Because the clients’ situations can be so catastrophic — forced at gunpoint to accept a marriage, raped by a husband, essentially imprisoned within the home as a domestic servant — Unchained at Last also provides mentoring, access to therapy and cash stipends for everything from basic clothing to English as a second language class. [...]

Epstein Torture for Get trial:Judge Wolfson rejects defense of violence for religious purpose

Some excerpts: ... On the face of the Indictment, it is unclear whether all non-violent methods were exhausted before the alleged kidnappings took place here. That fact, however, does not change this Court’s analysis. Indeed, if Defendants had acceptable religious alternatives -- instead of resorting to violating the criminal laws -- I find that the Government’s application of the kidnapping laws to Defendants here does not substantially Defendants’ religious exercise. Nevertheless, even if Defendants had exhausted all other available non-violent means of coercing a husband to give his wife a get, and the only remaining method of coercion, as argued by Defendants, is through violence or force, i.e., kidnapping, I remain convinced that would not amount to a substantial burden. This Court has not found any authority condoning the use of violence under the guise of religion, and more importantly, no case has found the Government’s application of violent crime laws to certain religious practices is a substantial burden. 

 Even assuming Defendants could prove a substantial burden on their religion as a result of their prosecution, the RFRA challenge fails under the remaining two prongs of the test. As to the first of the two elements, the Government has the burden of demonstrating that the law which constitutes a substantial burden on an individual’s religion furthers a compelling governmental interest. Gonzales v. O Centro Espirita Beneficente Uniao do Vegetal, 546 U.S. 418, 429 (2006). On this issue, Stimler posits that “deterrence of possible future efforts to use violent means to coerce recalcitrant husbands to authorize the writing of a ‘get’” is not a compelling interest. Stimler Br. at 11. To contrary, the Government maintains that prosecuting crimes of violence is compelling. Gov’t Br. at 16. 

When determining whether a government action serves a compelling interest, it is not sufficient to use broad terms; RFRA “contemplates a more focused inquiry.” Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., 134 S. Ct. 2751, 2779 (2014). Thus, even if the government can show that the law is in furtherance of a generalized compelling interest, the government must prove that “the compelling interest is satisfied through application of the law ‘to the Person’ — the particular claimant whose sincere exercise of religion is being substantially burdened.” Gonzales v. O Centro Espirita, 546 U.S. 418, 430–31 (2006). 

 ... Defendants’ purported use of force to effectuate a mitzvah involves kidnapping and even physical violence to others. Even more compelling, the Supreme Court in O Centro found that there was little evidence to demonstrate the type of harm to the religious personal drug users that the government there proffered. Thus, the Court found that the government’s stated interest to protect the health of those religious users was not a compelling one. To the contrary, the Government’s interest, here, is to protect the health and safety of those individuals who were victims of Defendants’ alleged violence and kidnapping. Accordingly, I find O Centro distinguishable. 

... The least-restrictive-means standard requires a showing that the government “lacks other means of achieving its desired goal without imposing a substantial burden on the exercise of religion by the objecting parties.” Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. 134 S. Ct. 2751, 2780 (2014). As stated above, the Government has a compelling interest in the uniform prevention of violence. Stimler has argued, as discussed supra, that the law burdens the “mitzvah” of using force, if necessary, to obtain a get; thus, there is no method by which the Government could enforce its interest in preventing violence without burdening Defendants’ religious exercise. In that regard, in this case, any effective means to prevent violence would necessarily prevent Defendants from using the force, which, according to Defendants, is permitted by Orthodox Judaism. ...

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

   Courts opinion on Jewish Law motion 

Top violator of women's rights around the world? It's Israel says UN

Fox News

Guess who is the number one violator of women’s rights in the world today?  Israel.  Violating the rights of Palestinian women.

At least that is the view of the UN’s top women’s rights body, the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).  CSW ends its annual meeting on Friday, March 20 by condemning only one of the 193 UN member states for violating women’s rights – Israel.

Not Syria. Where government forces routinely employ rape and other sexual violence and torture against women as a tactic of war. Where in 2014 the Assad regime starved, tortured and killed at least 24,000 civilians, and three million people – mostly women and children – are refugees. 

Not Saudi Arabia. Where women are physically punished if not wearing compulsory clothing, are almost entirely excluded from political life, cannot drive, cannot travel without a male relative, receive half the inheritance of their brothers, and where their testimony counts for half that of a man’s.

Not Sudan.  Where domestic violence is not prohibited.  There is no minimum age for “consensual” sex.  The legal age of marriage for girls is ten. 88% of women under 50 have undergone female genital mutilation. And women are denied equal rights in marriage, inheritance and divorce.

Not Iran. Where every woman who registered as a presidential candidate in the last election was disqualified.  “Adultery” is punishable by death by stoning.  Women who fight back against rapists and kill their attackers are executed. The constitution bars female judges. And women must obtain the consent of their husbands to work outside the home.

In fact, not only is there no possibility that the UN Commission on the Status of Women will criticize Iran, Iran is an elected member of CSW.  Sudan – whose president has been indicted for genocide and crimes against humanity – is currently a CSW Vice-Chair.

Downs Syndrome: "I didn't know I would be able to love her the way I do"

CBS News  I got the call two years ago that no expecting parent wants.

The genetic counselor told me the baby girl I was carrying would have Down syndrome. I felt like I had been sucker-punched. I sobbed, mourning the loss of the child I thought I was supposed to have.[...]

I recognized from the moment I began considering ending my pregnancy that the decision was based more on sparing myself and my husband the pain of raising a child with Down syndrome rather than sparing our child.

I knew I could quietly end the pregnancy, tell friends and family I had miscarried and start again. We could put the whole thing behind us and pretend it never happened. I could get a do-over.

Fortunately for my daughter, my husband wasn't on board with that plan. When I whined it wasn't fair we had been dealt a crappy hand, he said, "Fair? What's fair? What does that even mean?" Still, he was scared about our future, too. [...]

Still, I needed more information. One of the best pieces of advice I found online was from a parent blog encouraging me to seek out a local Down syndrome support group where I could connect with actual families. A quick Google search led me to Gigi's Playhouse in New York City.[...]

My thinking changed after that one visit. To say Gigi's Playhouse helped save my daughter's life may sound dramatic, but it's true. We were welcomed into the community. And I could see first hand that many of my fears were unfounded. These kids played and acted just like other children. They laughed, danced, wrestled with each other, whined and cried just like kids I knew who had the standard 46 chromosomes.[...]

One thing I want to make clear. There's nothing particularly special about my husband or me. We wanted a baby and that's exactly what we got. She may not be the baby we expected, but then again that's what being a parent is all about. As much as we like to believe we can control who our children will become or that we can protect them from disease or a cruel world unwilling to accept them, the basic truth is, we can't. For some parents it takes years or decades to accept this. My husband and I just had to come to terms with it before our daughter was even born.

Still, I understand this is scary stuff, facing the unknown of a life with a child who has an intellectual impairment and could possibly have a host of physical ailments. But 18 months into this mom gig, I can tell you it's not nearly as daunting as I imagined.

I'm exhausted and stressed out a lot. But it's not because my daughter has Down syndrome. In fact, my husband and I enjoy our baby girl so much, we decided to have another baby when she was only four months old. So if you bump into me on the street and I look over-tired and disheveled, it's because I have a very active 18-month-old daughter, a five-month-old son who still doesn't sleep through the night, and I work full time.

It's true my daughter has some developmental delays. And she receives a bevy of therapies through Early Intervention to help keep her on track. But she's also wonderful. She has a twinkle in her eye and an infectious grin that makes even the most miserable looking people on the subway smile when she stares them down. When she puts her head on my shoulder as I rock her to sleep each night, my heart melts no matter what kind of day I've had. I do think she is more special than other children, but it's not because she has Down syndrome. It's because I'm a completely biased and doting mother who thinks no one could possibly be as adorable, bright or funny as my own child.

And her name is Margot.

Mother Brainwashed Children into Lying About Satanic Sex Cult at School

Breitbart   A mother and her partner forced her children to lie about a satanic sex cult at their school in the midst of a bitter custody row. Ella Draper and Abraham Christie “tortured” the children into alleging their father was leader of a rape cult that killed children, drank their blood and danced with their skulls.

The Daily Mail reports that the two children, aged eight and nine, appeared in a series of Youtube videos alleging various demonic practices by a cult. High Court judge Mrs Justice Pauffley ruled, however, that the children had been forced to “provide concocted accounts of horrific events” by their mother and her partner.

The videos, which received more than 4 million views, alleged “significant paedophile activity” at the school by teachers, social workers, a priest and police. While the “main action” occurred at the children’s school, seven other schools were also named, along with a swimming pool.

The children also claimed “rituals” were performed at a McDonald’s restaurant where “the boss” let child sacrifice happen. They said that babies were beheaded or cooked in ovens before being eaten by cult members.

In one video, the children said they were made to dance with dead babies’ skulls and that over 100 people performed sex acts on them.

However, Mrs Justice Pauffley ruled: “I am able to state with complete conviction that none of the allegations are true. The claims are baseless.” She also said that people spreading the rumours and videos on the internet were “evil and/or foolish”. [...]

The hearing lasted nearly two weeks, during which Mrs Justice Pauffley heard evidence from 16 witnesses.

“The forensic inquiry has been full and thorough. There was no satanic or other cult at which babies were murdered and children were sexually abused,” she said.

Schlesinger Twins: Rabbi Jeremy Lawrence's letter of support for Beth

Here is another major contribution to the growing flood of support letters for Beth and her children. These letters clearly reflect the pain of community leaders and rabbis to the obvious injustice being done to Beth and her children. The only real question is when the Jews of Austria will act to end this cruel injustice. 

You should note that there are no letters supporting Dr. Michael Schlesinger - for the obvious reason that his actions are not defensible.

Knesset Intifada: Shrinking Israel's Jews and How Yachad Died by RaP

Guest post by RaP

A funny thing happened on the way to the recent Israeli elections: A lot of Israeli Jews got lost along the way! How so you may rightly ask?

For most people the Israeli method of elections is puzzling. Basically it is based on the "proportional representation" model. Votes are cast for parties and the votes are then added up and divided "proportionally" so that if party X receives 10% of the vote it will get about 10% of the members in the 120 member Knesset. There is also a requirement to meet a minimum threshold percentage to "qualify" for the final dividing-up of the percentages. This was done to eliminate gadfly small parties and keep them from splintering the Knesset that would hinder forming governing coalitions and setting up governments. For the last election the minimum threshold required was raised to above 3% of the required total in order to be in the running for the final division of votes for numbers of seats. Thus many smaller or smallish parties decided to "unite" in order to surpass the minimum threshold requirements as well as to strengthen their chances against larger parties.

The one group that figured out all the angles and put into motion a "solution" was Israeli Arabs and a small group of Israeli Jewish Communists who work within those parties. The Israeli Communist party under various names has long merged into and morphed into an Arab Israeli party. In the recent elections four diverse and conflicting Israeli Arab parties united know as the generic "United Arab List" and as a result they did exceedingly well becoming the third largest single block in the incoming Knesset almost doubling their representation to 14 Knesset members! That means that this group has basically succeeded in crowding out most of the small Israeli Jews' parties some to near or virtual extinction and others to bare bones numbers that has sent them reeling.

It was probably the main reason that the new Israeli Yachad party headed by Israeli Sefardi ex-SHAS veteran political leader Eli Yishai just missed making it into the Knesset where the smallest parties under the current allocations are not less than four members. Thus four popular well-known Israeli Charedi and Orthodox Jews, consisting of Sefardim and Ashkenazim, under the guidance of Rav Meir Mazuz, representing a huge group of Charedi and Orthodox Jews, as well as serious Religious Zionist voters disgusted with Bennett's "Bayit Yehudi" party's flippant attitude to serious Torah Judaism were shut out of the new Knesset because the Israeli Arabs united and organized in such a way to pump up their own numbers that ensured that parties like Yachad and Eli Yishai and his ally Zev Marzel were "defeated"!

They know this quite well and some of the new Israeli Arab future Knesset members have openly bragged to the press that they are proud of the fact that managed to keep Eli Yishai and Zev Marzel and all of Yachad out of the next Knesset. And who do the Arab Israeli new Knesset members represent? Communists on one side and real dyed in the wool Arab Islamic fundamentalists with full regalia and all as the new anarchists to sit in the Israeli Knesset historically mainly meant to be a place for all Jews to have a political voice. This is a cruel twist of political irony. True, that this is the way a democracy like this works and the Arab Israelis deserve their well thought out and well funded and executed Pyrrhic victory, thinking they have now "stormed the Bastille" but they are living in a fool's paradise because only in Israel would Jews allow something like this to get off the ground. In Arab lands they long ago kicked out all the Jews, confiscated their property, and now that they don't have Jews to persecute, they have taken to killing Arab Christians and burning down their churches, as they all fight and kill each other with Sunni versus Shia, Arabs versus Iranians, and secular versus Islamic radicals. While in Israel they adopt the language of moderation and talk like lawyers and hot TV celebrities as they smile for the cameras, win debating points and make sure to provoke fellow Israeli Knesset members into furious rages with open support for Hamas and all sorts of anti-Israel and anti-Zionist invective.

This affected not just Eli Yishai and his Yachad party forcing them to shrink into political oblivion, but even a hardened political operative like Avigdor Liberman the leader of Russian Israelis in the Knesset rightly called it a "political assassination"! Just what does that mean?

All the Israeli political parties received outside financial and political help and boosts. Likud has its super-capitalist backers overseas while Labor has its ultra-liberal backers who pumped money and advisers in. Charedim got plenty of backing from rich American backers and advisors. Seems Liberman and his part did not get such backing from Russian Jews abroad, maybe because they are not as open-handed as other groups, but one thing is for sure, the new "Arab List" party received lots of good help and advice for itself that worked.

There was a group that came in to Israel from the USA according to multiple news sources headed by people who had helped to get Obama elected that allied with Israeli leftists and radicals. This new group dubbed itself "V15" and it was assumed they were working mostly to hand the Labor block a victory in the "2015" elections -- but this is just one dimension of what they were up it now transpires.

It is very possible and even probable and totally conceivable that "V15" actually means the goal to elect into the Knesset of the Jewish state, 15 Israeli Arabs that in turn would squeeze out problematic smaller parties like Eli Yishai's Yachad party that voiced strong views about Arabs by its member Zev Marzel, as well as shrink down and neuter as much as possible any and all other Israeli Jewish parties by cutting down on the number of Knesset seats they could hope to have and hence voices in the Knesset for Israeli Jews would be shut down and put out of action, and it worked. Not quite 15 maybe, but 14 is excellent for them and those 14 now take over slots and crowd out Israeli Jewish voices in the Knesset that should rightfully and historically belong to Jewish Israelis who founded the Jewish state of Israel not as a venue for Arab nationalism and anti-Israel and anti-Jewish diatribes but as a voice for all Jews first and foremost something virtually all Charedi and Orthodox Jews understand all too well.

Maybe it is a measure for measure from Heaven above, that once upon a time Rabbi Meir Kahane HY"D stood as a new voice in the Knesset but he was ostracized and at one point when there were going to be new elections in his time it was predicted he would gain huge increased support and votes from Israeli Jews to the tune of also perhaps from 10 to 15 potential new Knesset members. But PM Shamir and his cohorts panicked and they banned Kahane and his party from the Knesset for being "racist" and soon thereafter Kahane was assassinated becoming the first victim of Arab terrorism aka Jihad in America that came into full view on 9/11 when over 3,000 Americans lost their lives to the same Islamic radicals out to destroy not just Kahane, Israel and the Jews but to crush America and bring the entire Western World to its knees and bow down to Islam by the force of their swords!

So now instead Israel has allowed some proven Arab racist Knesset members who have even faced serious sanctions for their anti-Israel bashing and ranting and actions visiting terrorist groups abroad. While the Israeli Supreme Court supported them, now with the help of "V15" who mobilized the Arab Israeli vote like never before there are now at least 14 of these people. So that when in the past Israeli Jews blocked the potential growth of other Israeli Jews they did not like Kahane's party's growth, now they have to live with the Arab nationalist's growth which is far worse and more dangerous for the Jews and the Jewish state.

So watch out what you wish for, it may come true, and the "V15" group have made the Israeli ultra-leftists' and Arab Israeli wishes come true allowing the Israeli Jews to roll out the red carpet for a true Trojan Horse and Fifth Columnists in their own Israeli Knesset, folks that wish to see the demolition, shrinkage and disappearance of the small Jewish state from the Middle East once and for all.

May HKB"H have mercy on the Jewish People everywhere and save them from the whiles of its enemies both near and far as he did on Purim and Pesach, Amen!

Frum Follies: Why is Lopin obsessed with publishing slander about the seminaries?

Yerachmiel Lopin's latest posting (on his blog Frum Follies) regarding the seminaries contains his normal twisting of the truth. He presents no evidence except for "creative" deductions and his amazing ability to see things between the lines - that simply aren't there. It seems he is obsessed with slandering the seminaries and especially Mrs. Ullman. Along the way he attempts to sling a bit of mud at me - for daring to report the facts and contradict his slander. I hope to publish clear unequivocal evidence in the near future - though I am sure Lopin will refuse to accept it. After all he claims that we still have to be afraid  of the second coming of Meisels who will eventually run the seminaries again unless he keeps guard at the gates of the seminaries.

He seems to feel that he and his peanut gallery that comments on his blog are the last  "guardians of the truth" - now that he claims his former comrades in arms - the Chicago Beis Din have sold out.

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I just received this letter from a parent of a current student - that illustrates how Lopin's obsession works.

Rabbi Eidensohn,

Don't know if you recall, but I e-mailed you several months ago and mentioned that my daughter attends Binas. The purpose of this e-mail, and I am asking you to please not mention my name if you do choose to use the information, is to tell you unequivocally that Mrs. Ullman has been the principal this entire year with no noticeable reduction in duties.  This obviously contradicts what "others" are saying out there.  If you ask the girls who are there, they know nothing of any problems.  Clearly they were aware of the situation when they went as they are 18 and 19 year old girls who are able to understand some of the issues (more than I wish they had to at this point in their lives, but that is another matter).  I periodically ask my daughter if anything has come up this year and she says no.  I ask if Mrs. Ullman is in charge and she says yes.  What that tells me is that if there was a "punishment" it is sure not one that anyone sees and thus would not be effective as such.  And with that being the case, I can take it one step farther to mean that it was not felt that one was needed.

The recent psak you posted did not mention a need for a punishment.  It is only those who want to see the schools destroyed that are insisting that there is one.  Clearly they are wrong.  So much for their inside information.

As an aside, I emailed this information to Lopin without telling him my relationship to the situation.  I simply told him that I was 100% sure of my facts and that I was not faculty nor related to faculty.   He asked to speak with me to discuss and I refused.  I told him that he posts all kinds of information from "sources" and asks his readers to believe it without any sort of proof just based upon who he is.  If he can ask that, then I feel no different giving him information that I am sure is accurate and he can choose to trust me or not.  Not surprisingly, I did not receive a response.

You may do what you want with my information as long as my name is not used with it, but what I am saying is obviously easy to verify by asking any one of 50 girls who are there right now!  I can also tell you that they have been told that 40 girls are signed up for next year already and there is also the possibility of a second year program if there is enough interest.

Helping Kids develop Da'at - intuitive thinking by Allan Katz

guest post AllanKatz Parenting by the Book

The Medrash says that any Torah sage that does not have דעת Da'at = intuitive and discerning intelligence, an animal carcass = neveilah is better than him. The Medrash bases this on the fact that Moses waited to be called and summoned by God before he entered the tent of meeting-Ohel Moed and thus displayed manners and courtesy = derech eretz. Rav Wolbe in his book Alei Shur 1:192 says that Da'at can be from something simple as what the Vilna Ga'on calls ' Muscalot Ha'rishonim – basic intuitive perception. Da'at includes basic common sense, common courtesy - derech eretz ,a sense of right, a natural feel for what is moral and straight, understanding of the heart, a sensitivity that allows people to act and speak in an appropriate way depending on the situation, to what Rashi describes Da'at in Ki Tissah, as Ruach Hakodesh - prophecy or the divine spirit. Rav Wolbe says that what is common to all these definitions is Rabbeinu Yona's definition of Da'at. דעת- משהוא משיג מדעתו - perceptions that a person acquires by himself by using his thinking and connecting to his inner being. A person's frame of reference is within himself. And by connecting to his inner intelligence he can acquire prophecy and learn by himself the whole Torah like Abraham. Accessing one's natural intelligence and understanding through his own perception – מבין מדעתו is the criterion for a person to be taught about the Merkavah. He needs this ability as he is only taught a broad outline and he has to comprehend and figure out the rest on his own.

This reminds me about a Rov who shared a chidush – a novel thought with a colleague who said it was not true to Torah. The Colleague then came back and after scanning with his photographic memory all Talmudic and Torah sources with about 5 proofs supporting the Rov's chidush. The colleague was amazed that the Rov came up with that novel thought. Apparently his photographic memory and having so many Torah sources at his finger- tips got in the way of his appreciation of the power of Da'at.

The first thing we request from God in our prayers is to be given Da'at, a discerning intelligence that will help us to differentiate – lehavdil, and act appropriately. The questions are - why aren't educators concerned with children developing Da'at , and how can we as parents and educators promote the acquisition of Da'at.

In a nutshell parents and teachers can help kids develop Da'at using Rabeinu Yona's principle - that Da'at is something that one acquires from his own personal intellect - דעת- משהוא משיג מדעתו . It means when we are learning together with kids , whether it is academic learning or socio-moral learning we need to first challenge their thinking and let them share their own personal perceptions and perspectives . We have to imbue in them that their voice , opinions, ideas , perceptions, explanations etc are very important and the path for each of them to acquire their share in God's Torah.

Educators see their role as molding kids into Torah people and scholars, rather than developing the whole child and his Da'at and building on this Torah thinking and knowledge. The result is that kid's emotional, moral and intuitive thinking – da'at gets stunted as shown with Hamish kids. In an experiment they were asked why don't you steal or why should Sunday be a day of rest. They answered because God said so. Then they were asked if God did not say so, what do you think?. The kids had difficulty in presenting a moral argument and lacked Da'at.

The problem is that educators see children as basically passive receptacles into which knowledge is poured. When it comes to socio- moral learning, children need to learn what to do, follow instructions and be obedient. Emotions and feelings are ignored. At most emotions and feelings only follow the intellectual understanding and acceptance of what has been taught. And the way these goals are attained is to use extrinsic motivation in the form of grades, prizes, honor rolls etc so the kids focus on how well they are doing and not on what they are doing. Discipline using rewards, punishments and consequences are used to deal with behavior and get compliance. These approaches just get kids to ask what's in it for me, rather than focusing on the process of learning and how their behavior impacts on others and these stunt the development of Da'at.

To help kids develop Da'at , we have to deal with the whole child, including his feeling and understand the motives and values underlying his behavior. If we want to help them be ethical people as opposed to people who do what they are told, we have to support their autonomy and also help them construct moral meaning and figure out for themselves and with each other –how to act. Kids are active meaning making, testing theories and trying to make sense of themselves and the world around them. Problems are solved in a collaborative way taking into account the child's perspective and concerns as well and giving him the opportunity to come up with a better plan and engage in an autonomous way in the moral act of restitution. Most schools talk about middos and character but it is top-down and kids don't participate in constructing a pro-social agenda or building a caring community so kids have an opportunity of doing things together. Instead of top-down rules, we should bring children in on the process of devising and justifying ethical principles. Only when kids have the opportunity to voice their opinions, share their perspectives, feelings, thinking , construct and make real choices in the context of community, will kids develop Da'at.

The same goes for academics - cooperative learning and kids making sense of what they are learning.We need a learning environment where kids are challenged to do the learning and thinking and not just repeat what others have said. How times are kids asked to share their own thinking and explanations? Deborah Meier says – that teaching is essentially listening and learning is essentially about speaking.

While God's commandments add an element of Divine intelligence we need to help kids engage their own da'at, intellects, moral reasoning and connect to their inner souls.