Haredi IDF officer exposes leaders of anti-haredi enlistment harassment campaign

JPost

A haredi IDF officer who was one of numerous ultra-Orthodox military personnel subject to harassment by haredi extremists hired a private investigator to expose the people behind the harassment campaign.

Radical elements in the haredi community have in the past few years waged a vitriolic campaign of incitement and harassment  against haredi IDF officers involved in recruiting haredi conscripts, as well as enlisted haredi IDF soldiers.

The campaign has taken the form of posters, pamphlets and booklets with cartoons and other images that incite readers against haredi officials involved in promoting IDF service. These publications routinely depict such people as pigs and malign elements attempting to corrupt haredi youth.

In July, extremists published a booklet containing the names, photos and contact details of the most senior haredi figures community promoting haredi enlistment, as part of efforts to harass and delegitimize them. [...]

As first reported by Channel 2 on Wednesday night, Glickman became frustrated with the lack of progress and hired a private investigator to expose the people behind the campaign of harassment. 

The investigator, David Gabai, who cost the Glickman and his wife tens of thousands of shekels to hire, was able to gain access to the leaders behind the campaign and recorded four of them discussing the campaign and efforts to stage protests at Glickman’s home. [...]

On the basis of the recordings, Glickman has filed a civil suit against the four extremists for slander claiming NIS 2.4 million in damages.

Rav Dovid Eidensohn Telephone Conference #19 Destruction of Marriage, Family and Derech Erets now in “Footsteps of the Moshiach” - Sept 9 Wed 9:30 PM

Call 605-562-3130 enter code 411161#

The gemora lists two major causes of Jewish decline and confusion. One is the Destruction of the Second Temple when the Romans destroyed the Temple and exiled many Jews. The other major cause of Jewish decline and confusion is called “In the Footsteps of the Moshiach.” It seems that the latter problems are, in some crucial areas, much worse than the era of the Destruction of the Second Temple. The earlier periods were known for the losses of great rabbis and deep decline in the level of Torah learning. But the “footsteps of the Moshiach” period is known for decline in family and Derech Erets. We know that Derech Erets comes before the Torah. This is taught in the beginning of Sefer Tono Divei Eliyohu.

When we see today the decline of marriage and family, we must realize the magnitude of our difficulties. Surely the young children who are the greatest sufferers of a broken marriage should arouse us to think about improving things. The way things are going, there will be many children broken in spirit. And also, as I will explain, we have a growing problem with invalid Gittin that leads to Mamzeruth.

Netzavim 75 - Parenting / Teaching and Teshuvah -Repentance by Allan Katz

The Teshuvah – repentance  process  is fundamental to parenting and teaching.  I would even say that the quality of any book on Chinuch, education and parenting is dependent on how many times the word Teshuvah  is mentioned 

As Rosh Hashanah, the Day of Judgment approaches, we read in this week's portion Devarim /Nitzavim 30:2 about repentance – Te'shuvah, ' and you will return unto Hashem, your God and listen to his voice'.

The Jerusalem Talmud asks 'what is the punishment to be done to the sinner '? Wisdom replies that sin pursues bad experiences. Prophecy replies that the soul that sins should die. God replies that the sinner should repent and return to him. In this way he atones for his sins.

Although one should repent everyday of one's life, the month of Elul that proceeds Rosh Hashanah, and  Rosh Hashanah till Yom Kippur is the most opportune time to repent.  The focus in Elul is improving ourselves and cleansing ourselves for Rosh Hashanah. Yom Kippur is the time when we deal with the past. We verbalize and admit our sins = vi'dui, express regret, remorse  and commit ourselves not to repeat them. Rosh Hashanah is the Day of Judgment and we anoint God to be our king and subject ourselves to his authority.

Should we not first deal with our sins, admit what we did wrong and ask for forgiveness   - the Yom Kippur process -  and  only then approach the heavenly court to be judged by God?

Shouldn't Yom Kippur come before Rosh Hashanah?

A second question revolves around  discussion and opinions amongst the commentators whether Repentance- Teshuvah is a voluntary / optional commandment or are we obliged to repent and do Teshuvah. The Ma'haral from Prague   quotes the Talmud that God considers the person who does Teshuvah as having offered a ' voluntary ' sacrifice. He explains that since  the sinner no longer sees himself as subject to God's authority and decrees, his decision to repent and to return unto Hashem,  is considered by God as  if he has in an autonomous and voluntary way 'returned'  to God. And for this God is extremely grateful.

The two views - the commandment –mitzvah of Teshuvah is an obligation or a voluntary/optional commandment maybe reconciled by Rabbi David Lapin's explanation of the teshuvah obligation. Objectively speaking we have an obligation to repent and do Te'shuvah, subjectively speaking God considers our actions as autonomous and intrinsically motivated.

The Teshuvah associated with Rosh Hashanah focuses on our intrinsic motivation and relationship with God. We come before God as people who have changed from the inside, intrinsically motivated driven by a  new vision of ourselves. We are not the same people. Our purpose is to willingly redefine our relationship with God. We anoint and make God our king and subject ourselves to his divine commandments and guidance.

In order to create a new vision, says Rabbi David Lapin, we must sever ourselves from the past, because if we are still tied to our pasts, our pasts will hold us back and limit the extent of the vision we want for ourselves. We first create a future and then deal with the past. We first have an Elul and Rosh Hashanah and then a Yom Kippur. But ,if we don't deal with the past , the past will catch up with us. Once we have a new vision of ourselves, we  are in a position to reflect on our past with completely different lenses, and this leads to  having more remorse and a deeper  commitment never to repeat these sins. Without Teshuvah saying' sorry' is mere lipservice . Once we have  given  deep expression to these feelings of remorse and regret on Yom Kippur we can move on in the knowledge that we have  been forgiven and are new people  happy with our  new appreciation of life and our  relationship with God.

Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are primarily concerned about our accountability to our creator for what we have done over the past year. Torah accountability is doing Teshuvah in an autonomous way and repenting. It is coming up with a better plan, solving problems and creating a new vision of ourselves and then dealing with the past by engaging in an autonomous way in the moral act of reparation and restitution. The outcomes are improved relationships between people, each other and God and a feeling that we are good people.

. When we talk about accountability in the context of politics and business, we hear about the need to be accountable and pay the price for failure or inappropriate behavior by resigning or serving a criminal sentence. Accountability for kids is then  just another reason for dishing out more punishments and consequences.

When our kids and students don't meet our expectations, we must remember that instead of traditional discipline and punishment , we have a  duty to support their autonomy and  guide them to do 'Te'shuvah. This means participating together with kids in CPS – collaborative problem solving process and allowing kids in an autonomous way to engage in the moral act of restitution and making amends. The litmus test -does the child feel self-directed , joy and simcha in doing Teshuvah, has a new vision for himself  and  has the  relationship and trust with my kid or student been enhanced.

'In an illuminating passage from her book Learning to Trust (2003), Marilyn Watson explained that a teacher can make it clear to students that certain actions are unacceptable while still providing “a very deep kind of reassurance – the reassurance that she still care[s] about them and [is] not going to punish or desert them, even [if they do] something very bad.” This posture allows “their best motives to surface,” thus giving “space and support for them to reflect and to autonomously engage in the moral act of restitution” – that is, to figure out how to make things right after doing something wrong. “If we want our students to trust that we care for them,” she concludes, “then we need to display our affection without demanding that they behave or perform in certain ways in return. It’s not that we don’t want and expect certain behaviors; we do. But our concern or affection does not depend on it.” -  from Beyond Discipline – A Kohn

If we want kids to engage in Teshuvah, we as parents or teachers have to choose between a focus on discipline or teshuvah.

The lesson of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is that ' Accountability ' is not about paying the price of failure or making mistakes. It is an internal and intrinsic process. It is  about learning from mistakes, creating a new vision for oneself, changing from the inside, engaging in the moral act of restitution and making things right. It is about peace,reconciliation and connection between man and God and man and man, man and his children and a teacher and his students.

Judge Tosses Indiana Teen’s Sex-Offense Sentence

Southbend Tribune

Berrien County District Judge Dennis Wiley has vacated the sentence of a young man from Elkhart who had sex in December with a Niles 14-year-old who lied about her age.

Zachery Anderson -- whose case has drawn outrage and publicity from around the country amid calls for sex offender registry reforms in Michigan -- first heard the news Monday morning during a phone call from one of the two probation departments that has monitored him since he was released from jail in July. [...]

The girl and her mother both pleaded with the judge and the prosecutor to not deal with Zach harshly, but in late April, Wiley sentenced Zach to 90 days in jail, five years on probation and 25 years on Michigan's sex offender registry. The list of his restrictions includes computer use, being around those with computers or any young people, an 8 p.m. curfew and no venturing out of Elkhart County without permission. The young man was forced to give up his computer science major at Ivy Tech.

The Andersons bought a house for Zach to live in alone that would meet sex offender registry restrictions because he could not live in their home, and their son works for their Elkhart business.[...]

Gay pride parade stabber arraigned, continues to reject court authority as unholy

JPost    Yishai Schlissel, who stabbed participants in the July Gay Pride Parade in the capital, was charged by the Jerusalem District Court on Monday with murder and six counts of attempted murder.

The stabbings horrified the country, garnered across-the-board condemnation from Israeli society, including from Orthodox religious figures, and drew international attention due to the ferocity of the attack and the footage that emerged of it.

Schlissel, who was previously imprisoned for 10 years for stabbing three people at the 2005 Jerusalem Gay Pride Parade, was arrested during the stabbing rampage, just weeks after being released from jail. [...]

Australian rabbis support letter for Beth: The world wide protest against Michael Schlesinger grows stronger

The Minhag to say L'Dovid Hashem Ori; Why, When, and if, it should be said

Rav Ahron Schecter strongly criticizes Bnei Brak's handling of the Meir Seminary

Kikar Shabbat

הסערה סביב סמינר מאיר בבני ברק לא נרגעת. הגאון הרב אהרון שכטר שיגר מכתב זועם לראש העיר חנוך זייברט, בו הוא טוען כי זייברט הפר את הסיכומים עמו. המכתב נשלח כהמשך לשיחת טלפון שהתקיימה ביניהם ביום שישי לפני שבוע.

בשיחת ועידה שנערכה בין זייברט לגר"א שכטר וראשי ישיבות מגדולי ישראל שבארה"ב, ביקשו ממנו ראשי הישיבות שלא לתת יד למהלך שמתבצע נגד דעתו של הרב מאיר. בתגובה התחייב להם זייברט כי לא ינקוט בצעדים ללא הסכמתו הברורה של הרב מאיר וכי לא יסתמך על שמועות אלא ייפגש בעצמו עם הרב מאיר כדי לשמוע את דעתו.

אולם ביום שני, כשהתברר לגר"א שכטר כי זייברט הפר את הבטחתו וחתם על מינויה של הרבנית בורנשטיין למנהלת הסמינר למרות ביקורו בבית הרב מאיר, שם שמע על התנגדותו למינוי הגברת בורנשטיין, כמו גם את הדרישה למנות לסגניתו את הרבנית אריאל באופן זמני, שלח הגר"א שכטר את מכתבו החריף לחנוך זייברט בו הוא דורש ממנו שוב לקיים את הבטחתו ולבטל את מינוי הרבנית בורנשטיין.

[...]

"For her I weep" - mourning Shira Banki : A postscript

Reb Daniel,

I am including this background note regarding my Jerusalem Post article about the murder of Shira Banki at the Gay Pride Parade. Please feel free to share it.

When Shira Banki was murdered by Yishai Schlissel I perceived an ambivalent response from the frum community here in ארץ ישראל and online. I was disturbed by an apparent lack of outrage, empathy, sadness or despair. While the frum community was not to blame for her murder - there was no incitement -  I believe we were at fault for our uncertain reaction. After numerous orthodox publications declined my oped, I decided to publish in the Jerusalem Post to express my sorrow and to encourage mourning her unjustified murder. After publication, a רבי I admire admonished me for publishing criticism of the frum community in a secular newspaper and I accept his rebuke. My intention was to inspire members of our broader community and not to disparage us on a public stage.

As a postscript to my article, when I went to be מנחם אבל her family, Shira's father was grateful for my consolation but adamant that his family wanted more than just my tears. In that context I could not share with him how I oppose the parade and at the same time mourn his daughter's horrific fate. To me, it is clear that one can be opposed to the parade and still horrified and saddened by her murder. I believe mourning Shira's death and visiting her family are natural responses to the tragedy and wonder why few in our community felt the same. As I heard afterward in the name of Rav Moshe Shapiro, "when one is killed שלא כדין it is רציחה and the דין of נחום אבלים applies." Hers was a remarkable murder under remarkable circumstances that should not have been met with silence.

To be clear, how to relate publicly to the LGBT community is a complex topic and I am in no position to endorse an opinion on the matter. Still, when an unjustified murder occurs publicly in the name of הלכה, I do believe that responding with compassion is appropriate, respectable and ultimately, a קדוש השם.

כתיבה וחתימה טובה,

Mendel

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

 Jerusalem Post

For her I weep

By MENDEL HOROWITZ

The author is a rabbi and family therapist in Jerusalem, where he maintains a private practice working with adults and children.

08/10/2015 

There was no announcement about young Shira’s funeral in my neighborhood, no acknowledgment of her talents gone lost.

If a sixteen-year-old Jewish girl was murdered under any other circumstances than Shira Banki was in Jerusalem last week, our reaction as a community would have been different. That her ideological killing was met by ambivalence and not simply sorrow, so soon after Tisha Be’av, reflects how unfocused we have become. Shira’s unspeakable homicide should be met with tears and not with commentary. Her death should be mourned and not disregarded or explained.

There was no announcement about young Shira’s funeral in my neighborhood, no acknowledgment of her talents gone lost. At best I sensed disinterest. At worst I heard rationale. For some, the context of young Shira’s murder became cause for ignoring it. Others seized the opportunity to assign her community blame. Missing was our lamentation. Absent was our despair. There should be no uncertainty about young Shira’s assassination, no ambiguity about her Jewish blood spilled. “All her friends have betrayed her,” said Isaiah. Disregarding young Shira’s execution is akin to condoning her death.

As Jews we are accustomed to crying. The tragedies of history familiarize us all to pain. But there is more than oppression in our hardship, more than persecution in our fate. Survival has demanded our caution. Vigilance has contributed to our alarm. Exile, it seems, has looted our affections, robbed us of our sensibility and goodwill.

Alongside our grief lies confusion. Alongside our anguish looms mistrust. Not reacting to Shira’s murder indicates cowardice, not daring. Not recoiling from her death reveals weakness, not strength.

Satan must be laughing. In our zeal to uphold morals we have neglected ethics. In our defense of principles we have abandoned ideals. When a murdered Jew evokes anything but sadness we have strayed. When compassionate ones are apathetic we have blundered.

There is a time for debate and a time for weeping. A time for protest and a time for distress. Pretending Shira’s murder did not happen will not bring decency to Jerusalem. Dishonoring Shira’s slaughter with interpretation should not make anyone feel proud.

The scandal of Shira’s death is how predictably it exposed our vulnerability, how intolerably righteous was the indignation it, in some, aroused. Instead of human kindness, an unnatural detachment prevailed that was defensive and offensive both. Anticipating bigotry, some placed their self-justifying agenda first by insisting the community was not liable for a madman.

Others terribly suggested – with words or intentional silence – the anomalous evil was not worth bemoaning. While none proposed its permissibility, few people I know were outraged. Few unambiguously shed tears. Condolences were cursory and scarce.

The circumstances of Shira’s life need not be affirmed to justify bewailing her death. Her attitudes and behavior can be questioned. Her motives can be even denounced. Grieving, however, should be unfettered by opinion, unbound by the dispassion of thought.

Tears can fall with no reason. Sobbing can happen with no remark. The event behind her homicide may be regrettable but being numb to Shira’s slaying is something worse. A sister lay bloodied in our city. A daughter fell butchered in His name.

Tolerance is the call of our times and its demand is complicated to heed or to deny.

The divine image seems more varied than we knew.

Apologies may be gratuitous for what was said before her murder but introspection is needed for what came to mind after Shira died. To imagine Shira’s death was warranted is shameless. To ignore young Shira’s death is no less a sentiment of conceit. “Detestable are the proud of heart,” said Solomon. Exile is a time of reflection, humility, doubt. In our hurry to be right we may have wronged. In our rush to not condone we have condemned.

Like orphans without fathers we know how it feels to be frightened. Like widows without husbands we know how it feels to be alone. To be forsaken is to be endowed no security. To be rejected is to be afforded no hope. Banishment is cruel. With abandonment comes unrest and uncertainty. With confusion comes fear and disgust. Like countless victims before her Shira is a casualty of exile, of the disaster that arises from instability and hate. But not everything is controversial, not everything unclear. Shira deserves regard because she did not deserve her fortune. Shira deserves our notice, if not for how she lived then for how she died. As on Tisha Be’av our trust is in our yielding. As on Tisha Be’av our prayer is in our cry.

פעולת האדם הטבעי, הטכנולוגי וההלכתי - ד"ר דרור פיקסלר

Does Kim Davis, Kentucky Clerk Blocking Gay Marriages, Have Legal Grounds?

NBC News

 The county official in rural Kentucky who has become the focal point for resistance to the U.S. Supreme Court's gay marriage decision will appear this morning before a federal judge to explain why she should not be held in contempt of court.

The judge ordered Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis and all of her deputies to appear before him at 11 a.m. Lawyers for four couples who sought marriage licenses from her but were turned down urged the judge "to impose financial penalties sufficiently serious and increasingly onerous to compel Davis' immediate compliance without further delay."

 She stopped issuing marriage licenses a few hours after the Supreme Court handed down its ruling in June, saying that granting licenses to gay couples would violate her religious convictions.

Federal District Court Judge David Bunning last month ordered her to resume issuing the marriage licenses. She asked a federal appeals court and the US Supreme Court to lift his order, but both declined. Nonetheless, she has continued to defy it. [...]

 Lawyers for Davis said in court filings late Wednesday that she should not be held in contempt for disobeying the judge's August order, because she cannot obey it.

"Davis is unable to comply with the order," her lawyers say, "because it irreparably and irreversibly violates her conscience." They cite federal court decisions, including a U.S. Supreme Court case, holding that someone cannot be held in contempt when complying with an order is factually impossible.

 A question for the judge will be whether she is unable to comply or, instead, unwilling.

Her lawyers also say because the underlying issue — whether she has a constitutional right, on religious grounds, to refuse to issue marriage licenses — has yet to be decided, it's too soon to consider any question of contempt. 

The recent suicide was not the result of discrimination against Sefardim

Walla

 While the father claimed that his daughter was being discriminated against by her rejection by the school - the fact was his daughter was in a special education class. The government education office investigated the claim that the girl was being discriminated against -and rejected it. The school that he had applied was viewed as having larger classes that were not appropriate for her. It was not because he was sefardi.

 במכתב בן שני עמודים מספר האב את שעבר עליו ומשפחתו בעקבות הדרישה לשיבוץ הילדה בבית ספר מסוים בניגוד לרצונה. "כבר התחלנו להרגיש את המגמה שכולם נגדנו ונגד הילדה. היא עצמה יודעת ומבינה את כל מה שאנו עוברים, תהליך משפיל ומבזה, ושואלת כל הזמן היכן היא תלמד ולמה לא מקבלים אותה. לא כך צריכה ילדה שעולה לכיתה א' ומתחילה את צעדיה הראשונים בבית הספר להרגיש ולחוות", האשים. במכתב מתייחס המנוח לטענה כאילו הוא ומשפחתו אינם תואמים את תקנון בית הספר שאליו לא התקבלה בתו, והגדיר זאת "עלילת דם מרושעת וחסרת בסיס".

משרד החינוך טענו אתמול כי "השיבוץ בבתי הספר מוצדק". המשרד השיבו לאב ביום חמישי שעבר ובו כתבו כי הם לא רואים סיבה מוצדקת להתערב בשיבוץ העירוני. "זה היה שלושה ימים לפני שהוא התאבד", אמר גורם ביישוב, "וזה השפיע עליו".

בתו הקטנה של המנוח הייתה אמורה לעלות בתחילת שנת הלימודים הנוכחית לכיתה א'. היא נרשמה לבית הספר היסודי לבנות "בית יעקב" ברכסים שבסמוך לחיפה, אך מנהלי המוסד הודיעו להוריה שהיא לא התקבלה. נ' ושאר בני המשפחה טוענים כי בהחלטה היו מניעים גזעניים, בשל היותם ספרדים, אך במועצה המקומית ובמשרד החינוך דחו את הטענות. 

בניסיון למצוא פתרון, מחלקת החינוך בעירייה שיבצה אותה לבית הספר "אור חדש". גורמים עירוניים ציינו כי השיבוץ נעשה לאחר שנטען כי היא תתאים לשם יותר בשל צרכיה. ההורים פנו למשרד החינוך וערערו על החלטת הוועדה, אך המשרד בחן את הטענות ומצא שהשיבוץ מוצדק, בין היתר בעקבות העובדה שהילדה התחנכה בגן של חינוך מיוחד והייתה זקוקה לכיתה קטנה, כפי שיש בבית הספר "אור חדש", ובניגוד למצב בבית הספר "בית יעקב". 

The Evidence Supports Artificial Sweeteners Over Sugar

NY Times  

July 27, 2015

by Aaron E. Carroll -  a professor of pediatrics at Indiana University School of Medicine.

In the last few years, I’ve watched a continuing battle among my friends about which is worse for you: artificial sweeteners or sugar. Unless you want to forgo all beverages that are sweet, you’re going to run into one of these. Rather than rely on anecdote or myth, we can inform this debate with research.

The available evidence points to the fact that there appears to be a correlation between sugar consumption and health problems; none can be detected with artificial sweeteners.

Let’s start with artificial sweeteners. These have, for decades, been attacked as harmful chemicals. But everything is a “chemical,” and not all of them are bad for us. One of the oldest artificial sweeteners is saccharin. Starting in the 1980s, Congress mandated that any product containing it be accompanied by the following: “Use of this product may be hazardous to your health. This product contains saccharin, which has been determined to cause cancer in laboratory animals.” [...]

Based on these newer studies, saccharin was removed from the carcinogen list in 2000. But by that time, opinions were set. It did little to make anyone feel safe. [...]

It is true that people with phenylketonuria, a rare genetic disorder, need to limit their consumption of aspartame, since phenylalanine is one of its components. But for most people, aspartame isn’t a concern, even outside of cancer. It’s also true that some of the sugar alcohol sweeteners, like sorbitol or mannitol, can have a laxative effect or cause bloating when eaten in large amounts by some people. In normal use by most people, though, all of the approved artificial sweeteners are safe.

But what about sugar? We should acknowledge that when I, and many others, address sugar in contexts like these, we are talking about added sugars, not the naturally occurring sugars or carbohydrates you find in things like fruit. Those are, for the most part, not the problem. Added sugars are. [...]

When I argue these facts with my friends, they want to know if I put my money where my mouth is. I do. My wife and I limit our children’s consumption of soda to around four to five times a week. When we let them have soda, it’s almost always caffeine-free, because we want them to sleep. It’s also almost always sugar-free. There’s a potential, and probably real, harm from consuming added sugars; there are most likely none from artificial sweeteners.

Rav Dovid Eidensohn Tel Conf #18 Wednesday Sept 2 9:30 PM - Older Singles and Marrying from Pressure

 call 605-562-3130 then code 411161#

The Shulchan Aruch beginning of Even Hoezer tells that in early generations a man past twenty who was not pursuing marriage properly was brought to Beth Din and instructed to get married. 

Now, this can make a lot of problems. Let us say that in a certain town an older man can only marry people he doesn’t want to marry. Can he be forced to marry someone against his will?

We had a case like this with the brother-in-law of the Baal Shem Tov. Reb Gershon Kitover. In his older years he went to live in Israel, in Jerusalem, where the Orach Chaim HaKodosh, considered the greatest saint of his time, was the Rov. The Orach Chaim honored him with being the Baal Tefila for Rosh HaShana. But then Reb Gershon was told that the rule in Jerusalem was that nobody was allowed to live there as a single. There are letters that Reb Gershon wrote about this, and he asked, How can I marry somebody from a different world? It is not known what happened. But this kind of a problem surely existed in earlier generations. And when people were forced to marry without wanting their partner, only problems could result. 

The problems were so strong that the Beth Dins eventually surrendered and did not force people to marry. Some offered proofs that today we don’t force marriages. But others disagreed and said we must have marriage. But if by so doing the Beth Din will create a constant ruckus that destroys the Honor of the Torah, it may be prudent to refrain from this forcing of marriages. Still others maintained that even today marriage should be coerced.