Dealing with abused husbands and wives in the Orthodox communoty

 https://mishpacha.com/were-only-addressing-half-the-problem/

 The first assumption about abuse in the Jewish community was that the abuse ran in only one direction, and female perpetrators and male victims of domestic abuse were virtually nonexistent. Prominent Jewish writers, echoed by many others in the field, asserted that 95 percent of victims of physical abuse in a marriage are women and only 5 percent are men — a 16:1 ratio.

However, this belief turned out not to be substantiated, as study after study has shown that women are perpetrators of domestic abuse at rates comparable to men. Furthermore, the belief that patriarchal views explained most instances of domestic abuse turned out to be false. Many of the most rigorous studies suggest that other factors, such as individual personality characteristics, impulse control, and life stressors have much more to do with domestic violence than do patriarchal beliefs of men in society.

 For too long the Jewish community has denied the painful reality of male domestic abuse victims and the catastrophic outcomes — for the men as well as their children — that the abuse inflicts. Unfortunately, some men turn to alcohol or substance abuse. Some struggle with suicidality. These maladaptive responses to their anguish tend to feed negative stigmas that our society has toward men, who instead deserve compassion as victims of domestic abuse.

 The Jewish community can do better. It must do better. The effects of domestic abuse, whether the victim is a woman or a man, can be catastrophic, and ignoring this reality costs families and communities dearly. Over the past 30 years, the Jewish community has done an incredible job of addressing half of this problem. The time has come to stop ignoring the other half.

In exchange for captive, Israel said to buy $1m of Russian COVID doses for Syria

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-said-to-purchase-russian-covid-vaccine-for-syria-in-exchange-for-captive/

 Israel is said to have agreed to purchase an unknown number of Russia’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine doses for use in Syria as part of the deal for the return of an Israeli woman who was held by the Syrian regime after crossing the border two weeks ago. The woman arrived in Israel on Friday via Moscow and was being debriefed this weekend by the Shin Bet security agency. 

 According to a report (Arabic) in the London-based Asharq Al-Awsat on Saturday, Israel is funding the purchase of Sputnik V doses for Damascus as part of the prisoner exchange deal with the Assad regime. The Ynet news site reported Saturday that Israel’s purchase of the vaccine doses was to the tune of over a million dollars.

Covid why frum people ignore halacha to daven and have weddings and funerals and keep schools open

 Rav Shlomo Wolbe(Alei Shur 2:4): On the narrow path to Truth in serving G‑d there is a major impediment which is called “frumkeit” (religiosity) – a term which has no clear and exact translation. “Frumkeit” is the natural urge and instinct to become attached to the Creator. This instinct is also found amongst animals. King Dovid said, “The lion cubs roar for their prey and ask G‑d for their food” (Tehilim 104:21). “He gives to the beast his food and to the young crows who call to Him” (Tehilim 247:9). There is no necessity that these verses should be viewed as mere metaphors. Animals have an instinctive feeling that there is someone who is concerned that they have food and this is the same instinct that works in man – but obviously at a higher level. This natural frumkeit helps us in serving G‑d. Without this natural assistance, serving G‑d would be extremely difficult.  However this frumkeit, as in all instinctive urges that occur in man, is inherently self-centered. Therefore frumkeit pushes man to do only that which is good for himself. Activities between people and altruistic actions are not produced by frumkeit. One who bases his service of G‑d entirely on frumkeit remains self‑centered.[...] With this we come here to the essence of the issue of frumkeit. The opposite of frumkeit is self-abnegation and humility. Frumkeit is an egoistic drive like all other instinctive drives. Therefore there is not the slightest aspect of humility and subservience and consequently there is also not true closeness to G‑d. That is because it is obvious that the Divine Presence does not rest with the self-centered ego. In fact the opposite is true. Only by self-abnegation does a person get progressively farther from egoism and in that manner he becomes a pure vessel for G‑d to cause His Divine Presence to be with him….

The Christian Prophets Who Say Trump Is Coming Again

 https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/02/18/how-christian-prophets-give-credence-to-trumps-election-fantasies-469598

 Not all prophets have doubled down on their Trump prophecies since the election, however. And as some have backed away from Trump, a schism has emerged. At least six recognized prophets who initially predicted a Trump reelection have acknowledged those prophecies were wrong. They now say they are deeply troubled by their peers’ refusal to acknowledge the same—and worry that allegiance to Trump could threaten the prophetic tradition itself.

No, frozen wind turbines aren’t the main culprit for Texas’ power outages

 https://www.fox4news.com/news/no-frozen-wind-turbines-arent-the-main-culprit-for-texas-power-outages

 Frozen wind turbines in Texas caused some conservative state politicians to declare Tuesday that the state was relying too much on renewable energy. But in reality, the lost wind power makes up only a fraction of the reduction in power-generating capacity that has brought outages to millions of Texans across the state during a major winter storm.

 While Webber said all of Texas’ energy sources share blame for the power crisis, the natural gas industry is most notably producing significantly less power than normal.

"Gas is failing in the most spectacular fashion right now," Webber said.

 "It appears that a lot of the generation that has gone offline today has been primarily due to issues on the natural gas system," he said during a Tuesday call with reporters.

Still, some have focused their blame on wind power.

Escalating Antireligious Female Draft

 BS"D 

Antireligious Israeli Leftists Making Religious Israeli Girls Bait Again: The Escalation of Drafting Religious Girls Into the Israeli Army

6 Adar, 5781  February 18, '21   Parshas Zochor /Terumah

By Binyomin Feinberg  FeinbergBinyomin@gmail.com

B"H (thank G-d), recently, two Israeli girls being assisted by volunteers with Chomosaich have received notice that they are to receive their religious exemptions from military service - Ester A. bas Nilli, a yesomah (orphan), and Talya bas Chana. Ester just received formal notification by letter from the Israeli Army immediately after her draft date, this Monday, Feb.15.

The fact that both girls needed lawyers to solve problems that (even by Army standards) should not have been an issue altogether speaks volumes about Army draft policy, as dictated by the antireligious Army Establishment: it's not that the Army pursues girls who encounter technical problems. It's that girls encounter significant problems because the Army wants to pursue easy targets.

Another girl, Loren bas Miriam, is a  recent Ba'alas Teshuva (someone who rediscovered their religious roots). She embarked on her spiritual commitment subsequent to her commencement of the enlistment process. In the eyes of some, that ostensibly raises suspicion. However, she stands willing to endure military prison to avoid being drafted. That is one powerful argument dispelling naysayers.

Loren has still not received any  religious exemption notice.  The Army set her a draft date for March 18, which happens to be shortly before her wedding, BE"H. 

(Our comment: Apparently, as far as the Army Draft Office is concerned, freedom of religion is a one way street: once secular, always secular - no way out.  Religious freedom isn't free in Israel, at least not if you're a Ba'alas Teshuva not yet ensconced in the correct voting bloc.)

Question: What avenue is there for someone to rediscover their religious Heritage - stolen by the dominant, established secularism of the Israeli WASPs -  if they happen to have started the enlistment process?

Yes, some will argue that the Army must ferret out fakers. Firstly, even according to the religious Zionism to which the government pretends to pay homage, the Israeli government has no right to draft any girl into the military, religious or not. 

Secondly, who is to determine religiosity, the antireligious Army Establishment? Secular and secularist draft officers? 

Thirdly, by what right does the Israeli government have to argue against fakery when the entire female draft is based on one massive fraud after another, including the myth of the need for women, and the true goals of the female draft having more to do with immorality than any national security need?

°°°

IDF Draft Office Advances Their Escalation Against Fully Religious Girls

The ongoing IDF macro-escalation of drafting religious girls can be illustrated "in micro" by reviewing  several current cases of refusenik girls - who have required legal counsel - currently being helped by  Chomosaich volunteers, for example.

° Anna bas Miriam, a religious Ukrainian girl, apparently lacking anything that would be expected to flag Draft Office interest, has been subjected to Army harassment for many months on end. Evidently, there is no rationale for this, other than the fact than she's an easy target hailing from one of the many immigrant backgrounds favored by IDF human traffickers. Her case seems to be one of a "random error," however, one that's been quite unrandomly allowed to evade "correction" for many months. During this period, apparently underemployed draft officers are very  intentionally trying to harass her with phonecalls. She's B"H not buckling. Given the Draft Office track- record on recent Chomosaich cases, hers seems to be "par for the course:" 

° Ester bas Nilli, a very religious 18-year-old sefardi orphan, until her exemption notification this week, was being harassed over the signature of the Dayan (religious court judge) on her Religiosity certification being below the line. This - despite her being orphaned from her mother, and being desperately needed to assist her Alman father with nine younger unmarried siblings remaining at home.

° Another religious girl, Talya bas Chana, until she was notified of her religious exemption over a week ago, had been literally persecuted by the Draft Office, despite - or perhaps by virtue of - her being from a broken family, in acute financial straights, and homeless.

°  Shuly bas R., 19, has also been cruelly persecuted, facing potential arrest, over her refusal to submit to the draft. The health issues with which she's recently been dealing, render it clear that the Army has no [legitimate, legal] use for her, and is pursuing her for reasons unrelated to national security.

° Now add to these the cases of other religious girls - under the care of other organizations - being persecuted by the IDF - including the two French girls reported on recently, e.g. see https://firstamendmentactivist.blogspot.com/2021/02/biting-hand-that-sacrifices.html. The Israeli Army Draft Office is clearly escalating their ongoing antireligious crusade against religious girls. And it's happening in great measure because we don't protest sufficiently. And that's something over which we have immense control. We ought to use the ability to speak out while we have it. G-d willing, in that merit, we won't lose that ability. 

~~~

“Nothing is to be more dreaded than the national government meddling with religion.” — John Adams, 1812

° Some of these girls are being or had been blackmailed into submitting to a "Rayon Dat," a Religiosity Interview/ Interrogation. For these girls, that's not only prohibited by Torah Law, and practically hazardous; it's also inherently self-contradictory.  For girls who follow the historically mainstream Rabbinic position that a Rayon Dat is prohibited, the Army forcing them into one (a) constitutes antireligious coercion, and (b) is also legally incoherent - if not downright Orwellian --demanding these girls "demonstrate" their religious values by contravening them.

° The merit of these heroic souls, and those who assist them, is truly incalculable - "Le'fum tza'arah agrah" [Avos]. And for that reason it's all the more incumbent on us to raise awareness - and funds - to stand by those noshim tzidkaniyos, in whose merit so many Jews are very possibly being saved from missos meshunos and untold tzoros.

### 

"... And if someone, like Pinchos, is one among a multitude, and every man is against him when he dares to speak out for truth and to fight for the Law -- the more lonely his stand, the greater the number of his adversaries, the more powerful is his word, the mightier his deed."

--  Rav Shamshon Raphael Hirsch OB"M (1808-1888), (in "Judaism Eternal," vol. 2, p. 293)

~~~~~

Binyomin Feinberg. FeinbergBinyomin@gmail.com

Texas weather: Are frozen wind turbines to blame for power cuts?

 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-56085733

 So when critics pointed to a loss of nearly half of Texas's wind-energy capacity as a result of frozen turbines, they failed to point out double that amount was being lost from gas and other non-renewable supplies such as coal and nuclear.

Fox News turns Winter Storm Uri into a cudgel to own the libs

 https://www.vox.com/2021/2/17/22287469/fox-news-winter-storm-uri-windmills-ercot-greg-abbott-hannity-carlson

 As nearly 3 million Texans languished without electricity Wednesday afternoon amid the ongoing fallout from Winter Storm Uri, Republicans and Fox News have teamed up to turn the disaster into a culture-war wedge issue.

 Fox News’ treatment of Uri illustrates how, for a large segment of the Republican Party, everything is now a culture war. On Fox, the coronavirus pandemic is recast around the struggle of aggrieved business owners and parents to overcome purportedly unnecessary public health regulations imposed by Democratic public officials; the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol becomes about Nancy Pelosi’s alleged failures; President Joe Biden’s efforts to prevent conflicts of interest in and around the White House is covered, while the egregious conflicts of interest in the Trump White House were defended.

Smoking and halacha

 https://ohr.edu/this_week/insights_into_halacha/5717

The Gadol Hador, Rav Moshe Feinstein zt”l, in a brief, albeit pivotal teshuva dated several months after the Surgeon General’s initial report,[14] wrote that although it is certainly appropriate to abstain from smoking, nevertheless, one cannot say that smoking is outright assur, as there are many people that smoke. Therefore, smokers fit into the category of “Shomer Pesaim Hashem, Hashem watches over fools.”[15] Rav Moshe adds that especially since many Gedolim smoked, it is impossible to say that such an act is truly forbidden.[16] This responsum seems to be the primary justification for many a smoker.

 In fact, even Rav Moshe himself, in subsequent teshuvos dated 1981,[24] took a much stronger stance against smoking due to the health risks involved. Although he still would not call smoking outright assur, he nonetheless rules that due to the dangers of second-hand smoke, it is forbidden to smoke where it will bother others (a psak later echoed by many other authorities)[25] including Batei Midrash and shuls, and concludes with an exhortation that everyone, especially Bnei Torah, should not begin to smoke due to the chashash sakana, adding that it is assur to ‘get addicted’.

 Several years ago, his son, Rav Dovid Feinstein shlit”a, was quoted as saying that with the current knowledge of the harm smoking causes, it is pashut that had his father, Rav Moshe, still been alive today, he would have prohibited smoking outright, as his dispensation was only based on the ‘fact’ that smoking endangered only a small percentage of smokers.[26] Indeed, in a newly discovered and recently published teshuva of Rav Moshe’s, dated Elul 5732, he himself wrote that his famous lenient psak was based on the facts as they were known at the time.^[27] He added that if the metzius would change and the percentages of those proven harmed by smoking would increase, then certainly it would be prohibited to smoke, at least the amount the doctors considered harmful to one’s health.

False Allegations of Domestic Violence: More Common Than You Think

 https://www.aggressivelegalservices.com/false-allegations-of-domestic-violence/

 False allegations of domestic violence occur at a high frequency in divorce proceedings. Some people even use this type of tactic as a tool in child custody battles. 25% of all divorces include allegations of domestic violence. The courts in 48 states must consider these allegations while making rulings in child custody hearings. Protection orders are clearly meant to offer protection in serious situations. Now, they have been turned into a weapon in divorce cases. This system is ripe for abuse, and something needs to change.

Impeach an Ex-President? The Founders Were Clear: That’s How They Wanted It

 https://www.politico.com/amp/news/magazine/2021/02/11/donald-trump-impeachment-ex-president-founders-468769

 The majority of Donald Trump's defense against his second impeachment so far is that the trial being held in the Senate right now is unconstitutional. His lawyers devoted half their brief and half of their speaking time this week to arguing that the Senate cannot try former officers. Senate Republicans voted 44-6 in agreement.

But what did the authors of the Constitution say about the timing of impeachment? That answer should matter a lot to Republicans, who are known for placing great weight in “originalism” when they invoke the Constitution—the meaning of the document when written in 1787 and then ratified by the public.

COVID-19: 40% of new serious cases are under 60 - here’s why

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/covid-19-40-percent-of-new-serious-cases-are-under-60-heres-why-658917 

There is a very disturbing increase in serious cases of COVID-19 among young people, according to a report released Sunday by the Coronavirus Knowledge and Information Center.

“There is a clear decrease in serious illness among those ages 60 and older,” the report said. “There is an increase in the number of patients in serious condition among younger groups, which last week constituted about 40% of new serious cases.”

According to Health Ministry data, almost 75% of people diagnosed over the weekend were under 40 years old, while only around 7% over 60.

On Sunday morning, 1,008 people were considered in serious condition, a slight increase from the day before, when 973 people were in serious condition.

Of the serious cases, 38% were under the age of 60. Last week, only around 34% of cases were younger people. At the peak of the third wave, around January 20, it was only 26%.

This constitutes a 53% increase in the number of serious cases under the age of 60 in the last month.

The cause, according to Prof. Cyrille Cohen, head of the immunotherapy laboratory at Bar-Ilan University, is two-fold. On the one hand, the more the older population is protected by the vaccine, it is inherent that the younger, less protected population will contract the virus and therefore be the relatively dominant population in the hospitals.

 

McConnell criticizes Trump after Senate acquittal

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/296771

US Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Saturday criticized former US President Donald Trump and said that he was "practically and morally responsible" for his supporters' deadly attack on the Capitol.

The speech came shortly after the Senate acquitted Trump on charges of “inciting insurrection” at his impeachment trial. McConnell voted in favor of acquitting Trump.

Senate Impeachment Trial: January 6 Video Montage