Historian and retired brigadier general Ty Seidule issues a full-throated indictment of the “Lost Cause” and dethrones the Confederate general.
Tuesday, May 18, 2021
Torah and moral issues
I just received the following email and thought it worth sharing and hope to get some helpful responses
Dear Rav Eidensohn
I hope this email finds you well.
I
wanted to ask you whether you have ever written about an approach to
reading the Torah when
it conflicts with our modern sensibilities and moral compass. I am
trying to come to some kind of resolution of some questions that my kids
ask me. In particular, my son is learning the second perek of Kiddushin
now and finds it very difficult to understand
how the Torah could allow a father to marry off his minor daughter and
even allow a person to be boel a ketana (my son told me that it works
for a 3 year old) for the purpose of kiddushin (which I assume is
permitted midin Torah but I am not sure). How do
you understand that halacha from the Torah? Do we limit it to some time
in the past and say that at the time the Torah was given, that was
acceptable in terms of the morality of the day but that the Torah does
require us to progress morally as well and that
today - given the development of society in terms of individual rights
and freedoms - the Torah would not condone those types of actions
either? And maybe that is why the Gemara that says that it is assur. If
so, are we limiting the Torah by saying this
and saying that some of it might not be relevant today (maybe something
like korbanos without a Beis Hamikdash)? Or maybe we say the underlying
principles are still relevant but the details may play out slightly
different in real life? Or do we say that the
modern push to individual freedoms and equality are inconsistent with
the Torah and that those issues, even if they sit uncomfortably with us
today, are "moral" or "Hashem's will" and marrying a 3 year old girl is
"moral" or a reflection of Hashem's will somehow
and that we need to try to align our thoughts with the assumptions that
the Torah appears to be making about these issues?
If you are able to share with me your approach to these issues (including any psychological insights
you might have), or point me to some mekoros that might be useful, I would be very grateful.
Thank you so much
What insurrection? Growing number in GOP downplay Jan. 6
Flouting all evidence and their own first-hand experience, a small but growing number of Republican lawmakers are propagating a false portrayal of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, brazenly arguing that the rioters who used flagpoles as weapons, brutally beat police officers and chanted that they wanted to hang Vice President Mike Pence were somehow acting peacefully in their violent bid to overturn Joe Biden’s election.
An open letter to Trevor Noah
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/an-open-letter-to-trevor-noah/
I just watched your 10-minute monologue on the Israeli-Hamas conflict for your popular television program “The Daily Show” (May 11). Frankly, it wasn’t easy viewing. In fact, I began talking back to the screen, but, obviously, to no avail, so I chose instead to write you this open letter.
You framed your comments quite cleverly by suggesting there were competing narratives out there, depending on who was doing the talking and the starting point of their version of history. And then, as if nothing more than a curious third party, you waded into the debate, essentially assigning yourself a certain moral credibility because of your “non-combatant“ status.
Republican congressman calls out 'bogus' claims by GOP colleagues trying to downplay the Capitol riot
- Representative Fred Upton, a Republican from Michigan, said on Sunday that some of the claims his colleagues made about the Capitol riots are bogus
- Paul Gosar, a Republican from Arizona, claimed the FBI was targeting 'peaceful patriots' when it arrests Capitol rioters
- Andrew Clyde, of Georgia, said that if you did not know the footage from the riot was from January 6 'you would think it was a normal tourist video'
- Jody Hice, meanwhile, said it was Trump supporters who were killed in the riot
- Upton said at least one of his colleagues who made these claims was there that day and he does not know what would motivate them to make these claims
- Lawmakers are trying to hammer out a deal to create an independent commission to study the events of that day
- It
remains unclear whether House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy will sign off
on it, but some want him and the former president to testify
Israel needs to better coordinate the image war - editorial
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/israel-is-fighting-an-image-war-and-losing-editorial-668370
Israel may be winning the war against Hamas terrorists on the battlefield, but it is again losing support in the court of public opinion as international sympathy tips in favor of the Palestinians.
Monday, May 17, 2021
Citing danger, top Haredi rabbis urge avoiding visits to Western Wall on Shavuot
Chaim Kanievsky and Gershon Edelstein, leading figures in the Lithuanian ultra-Orthodox community, warn against endangering oneself at Old City holy site, or ‘goading’ the ‘haters’
Two dead, 184 injured in grandstand collapse near Jerusalem
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/306324
https://www.kikar.co.il/392089.html
A 40-year-old man and a 12-year-old boy were killed and 184 people were injured when a grandstand collapsed at a synagogue in Givat Ze’ev near Jerusalem during Shavuot prayers on Sunday evening.
Saturday, May 15, 2021
US House speeches on Gaza expose growing rift in Democratic party on Israel
Nearly two dozen Democrats took to the floor of the US House of Representatives on Thursday to give impassioned speeches reacting to the ongoing violence in Gaza and Israel.
The hour-long salvo of brief addresses exposed the growing rift
in the Democratic party between increasingly popular progressive
lawmakers and more moderate representatives with closer ties to the
Biden administration, with the former bloc taking a much more critical
approach to Israel than the latter, which gave impassioned speeches
offering unwavering support for the Jewish state.
While Israel makes tactical gains, Hamas is proving the strategic victor
While Israel is seeking and achieving tactical successes — such as the air assault on Hamas’s “metro” network of tunnels across northern Gaza, the toppling of high-rise blocs of Hamas significance, and strikes at weapons stores and rocket launchers — Hamas is achieving strategic success, attaining primacy in the Palestinian, Arab and even Israeli spheres.
Adultery: Kosher style? Defense of Kotzker Rebbe
Alshich (Tehilim 51:7): Behold in sin I was formed – From the time it decreed that I should be born by means of the sin of Lot’s daughter who had an incestual relation with her father which is disgusting and terrible sin – but that is how I was formed. As it says in Bereishis Rabbah (50:16), “I found Dovid My servant” where was he found? In Sedom. And in sin my mother conceived me - that is referring to Ruth who is referred to as mother as it says in Bava Basra (91b)... she was the mother of the Davidic monarchy. From the time when she got the idea of lying at the feet of Boaz which was the sin of chilul Hashem as we see in Ruth Rabbah (6:1) that Boaz prayed that no one would know that she came to the threshing floor. And You G‑d did not consider it bad since You knew the motivation was good....
Devarim (05:17): You shall not kill. Nor shall you commit adultery. Nor shall you steal. Nor shall you bear false witness against your neighbor.
Bamidbar Rabbah (09:43): Our Rabbis said: When a woman is secluded with her husband and is engaged in intercourse with him, and at the same time her heart is with another man whom she has seen on the road, there is no adultery greater than this.\
Chazon Ish (Igros Kodesh #01): It is important to note that our Sages are not saying to love one's wife with the natural love that man is attracted to a woman but rather to love her with the love that friends have for each other - as someone he knows and has a covenant with him and that they are partners in many things and each one helps and receives help from the other. In addition the love he feels for her should also come from gratitude. He needs to have the clear image in his mind that if he had not gotten a wife and would have remained alone and isolated - how much suffering and pain he would have from this. But now that he has a wife his life is in place and functioning. The significance of gratitude is immeasurably important. This type of love is what our Sages say a man is obligated to have towards his wife. And again this love does not come from the lust a man has for a woman at all but from one of the good attributes which he is obligated to have. He needs to have this type of love and feeling towards her when he strives to cause her rejoicing at the time of intercourse and well as before and afterwards. Such a relationship is not disgusting – chas v'shalom – but rather it is a mitzva. In fact he should conduct himself in this manner even if he were not obligated by the Torah and surely now that the Torah does obligated it - as we mentioned before.
Kotzker Rebbe (Emes v’Emuna p635):The biblical prohibition on adultery included relations with one’s own wife if they involved sexual desire.
Rambam (Yesodei HaTorah 5:9): A man who lusts after a particular woman and is dying because of this lust and the doctors say that there is no other cure except for him to have intercourse with her – it is better to let him die even if she is unmarried. Even to speak with her when she is behind a fence is not something we tell him to do. He should die rather than speak to her from behind a fence. Jewish girls should not be freely available because this will lead to a licentious attitude to sex.
Rashi (Tehilim 51:7): Behold I was formed in transgression – So how could I not sin. The basis of my being formed was my parents sexual intercourse and through intercourse it is possible to be involved in a number of transgression. And alternative explanation, my principle formation was from male and female – both of them are full of sins. However there are other interpretive readings to this verse and they do not conform to the subject matter of the verse.
Rashi (Mishlei 9:17): Stolen water is sweet – The pleasure from intercourse with an unmarried woman is not the same as adultery with a married woman.
Shulchan Aruch (E.H. 25:10): A man should not have intercourse with his wife and be thinking about another woman – even if both are his wives
Shulchan Aruch (Y.D. 157:2) A person who has strong desire to commit adultery it is better to have intercourse with his own wife and imagine it is the other woman – nevertheless he needs to repent for his desire to sin (Taz)
Taz (Y.D. 157:10) Rema states that a person who has strong desire to commit adultery it is better to have intercourse with his own wife and imagine it is the other woman – this is obvious nevertheless he needs to repent this act since he had intention to sin as we see in Kiddushin 81) that Rav Chiya repented this for the rest of his life.
Tehilim (051:07):. Behold, I was shaped in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.
Vayikra (20:10): And the man who commits adultery with another man’s wife, he who commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.
Vayikra Rabbah (14:05) In sin I was formed (Tehilim 51:7)… Dovid said before G-d, did my father actually have intent to have me or was he was he focused on his own pleasure? Obviously it was for pleasure because when they finished, my father and mother both turned their faces away from each other.
Yalkut HaMakiri Tehilim (118 28): Tehilim (51:7) Behold I was born in sin. Yishai was separated from his wife for three years. After three years he had a pretty maid servant that he lusted for. He said to the slave, ”My daughter; I prepared myself for you tonight to free you.” The slave went to his wife, “ “Save yourself and the soul of your husband from Hell. ”She replied, “What is happening? ”The slave told her everything. She replied, “My daughter what can I do since he hasn’t touched me for three years?. Go prepare yourself and so will I” And she did. That evening, the slave got up and extinguished the candle. and closed the door. The wife entered and the slave left. The wife was with her husband the whole night and became pregnant with Dovid. Because of his strong passion for the slave Dovid was born very ruddy compared to his brothers. His brothers wanted to kill him seeing that he was red {a sign of adultery]. However their father told them to leave him alone so instead of killing him they treated him instead as a slave and shepherd.
Zohar (01:8a) Domeh ascended before the Creator, and said: “Master of the world, 'Master of the universe, in the Torah it says of "the man that commits adultery with another man's wife...the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death"' (Vayikra 20:10). Furthermore, it is written, "Moreover, you shall not lie carnally with your neighbor's wife, to defile yourself with her" (Vayikra 18:20). So what is to become of David, who has profaned his organ (of the holy covenant by committing a sexually immoral act)? G-d said to him, "David is righteous! And the holy covenant remains intact, because it is known to Me that Bathsheba was assigned to him since the day the world was created
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