Towards-a-sociology-of-psak

 https://traditiononline.org/towards-a-sociology-of-psak/

 Within the context of this paper, all of this has meant the growth of right-wing or "sectarian" Orthodoxy-the "yeshiva world" is, overwhelmingly, the world of right-wing Orthodoxy-and the growth of the perspective which is more punctilious and stringent, both in terms of psak and in terms of observance. To clarify and demonstrate this point, it is now necessary to distinguish between two types of Modern Orthodoxy. One may be called philosophical, while the other is more appropriately characterized as behavioraL. Within the category of philosophical Modern Orthodox (or "Centrist Orthodox") would be those who are meticulously observant of halakhah but are, nevertheless, philosophically modern. Within this context, being modern means, at minimum, having a positive perspective on general education and knowledge and being positively disposed to Israel and religious Zionism. 

 The behaviorally Modern Orthodox, on the other hand, are not deeply concerned with philosophical ideas about either modernity or religious Zionism. By and large, they define themselves as Modern Orthodox in the sense that they are not meticulously observant. In many ways, their definition of themselves as Modern Orthodox has the same basis as did those whom Marshall Sklare found to define themselves as Conservative. That is, when asked, "What do you mean when you say you are Conservative?," the responses were, typically: "Now-I'd guess you'd call it middle of the road, as far as (not) being as strict as the Orthodox, yet not quite as Reformed as the Reformed," or ." . . I don't like the old-fashioned type, or the Reform. I'm between the two of them. "28 Similarly, most of those who define themselves as Modern Orthodox do so in reference to right-wing or "sectarian" Orthodoxy, and they define themselves as modern in the sense that they are not as observant. As Heilman and Cohen put it,

Horowitz donates blood after Israel repeals ban on gay blood donation

 https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/horowitz-donates-blood-after-israel-repeals-ban-on-gay-blood-donation-683016

 Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz donated blood on Monday following Israel's repealing of the ban on gay blood donation.

"There is no difference between blood and blood," Horowitz, who is gay, said during his blood donation at the Magen David Adom compound in Jerusalem. "The ban on gays donating blood was the remnant of a stereotype that should be left in history."

Horowitz had pushed to remove part of the blood donation questionnaire that barred gay men from donating blood.

Israel okays $9 billion plan to fight gaps between Jewish and Arab citizens

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/israel-okays-9-million-plan-to-fight-gaps-between-jewish-and-arab-citizens/

 The government approves a far-reaching plan that allocates NIS 30 billion ($9.4 billion) over five years to fight persistent gaps between Arab and Jewish Israelis.

Now passed by the cabinet, the proposal will head to the Knesset, where it is set to be passed alongside the state budget next month.

The plan includes NIS 9.6 billion (nearly $3 billion) to improve education in Arab cities and towns; NIS 5.2 billion ($1.6 billion) for Bedouin Arabs in the southern Negev desert; NIS 650 million ($202.7 million) to bridge health gaps between Arabs and Jews; NIS 2 billion (some $624 million) to improve Arab communities’ crumbling infrastructure, and more.

Facebook Yanks Jair Bolsonaro Video Claiming COVID-19 Vaccines Cause AIDS

 https://time.com/6110398/facebook-bolsonaro-covid-vaccines-aids/

 RIO DE JANEIRO — Facebook and Instagram have removed from their platforms a live broadcast that Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro delivered in which he said people in the U.K. who have received two coronavirus vaccine doses are developing AIDS faster than expected.

Facebook’s press office confirmed in an emailed statement to The Associated Press that the content was removed Sunday night because it violated Facebook policy regarding COVID-19 vaccines.

“Our policies don’t allow claims that COVID-19 vaccines kill or seriously harm people,” the statement said. The company didn’t respond to AP questions regarding why three days elapsed before the much-criticized content was removed nor whether language barriers played a role, as Bolsonaro was speaking in Portuguese.

Objectivity and choosing an unbiased rabbi and hashkafa

 https://www.yeshiva.co/ask/7083

Question

It seems every Halachic authority I consult is biased towards his particular sect’s hashkafa. How can I find objective advice?

Answer

Kudos- for your fantastic question (as usual!). Without a doubt, there is an overlapping between a rabbi’s hashkafa (world outlook or philosophy) and his halachic decisions. This isn’t “bias” but it is the very definition and part of the beauty of the Oral-traditional process, where we view the “70 different faces of the Torah” which complete and “harmonize” each other, as something positive. In other words, machloket (argument) is not only inevitable when people (especially Jews, and even more so, rabbis!) are involved, but it’s actually found on every single page in the Talmud, and is exactly the Oral process which God formulated in His eternally relevant Torah!

Just Say No’ And Its Effects

 https://landmarkrecovery.com/just-say-no-and-its-effects/

 Years after the start of Just Say No, numerous studies in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s looked at the effects of anti-drug marketing efforts and found that they weren’t as effective as they sought out to be.

'Kissing disease' among teens could trigger MS - study

 https://www.jpost.com/health-and-wellness/kissing-disease-among-teens-could-trigger-ms-study-682655

 Results show children and teens contracting mono between the ages of 11 and 19 have a significantly higher risk of developing multiple sclerosis as an adult.

Six-year-old Survivor Kidnapped From Italy to Israel Must Be Returned, Court Rules

 https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-six-year-old-survivor-of-cable-car-accident-to-return-to-italy-israeli-court-rules-1.10323350

 Six-year-old Eitan Biran, who survived a cable car accident near Lake Maggiore this summer that killed both his parents, will be returned to his aunt in Italy, an Israeli court ruled on Monday.

The boy's paternal aunt, Aya Biran Nirko, filed a civil custody suit following the abduction by his maternal grandfather, 58-year-old Shmuel Peleg, in September, seeking his return to Italy. 

The judge who made the ruling on Monday rejected the grandfather's claim that Eitan's usual home was in Israel, as well as the claim that he generally lived in both Israel and Italy. The judge noted that Eitan had moved to Italy with his family when he was only a month old. She also rejected Peleg's argument that special consideration should be given to the boy's parents plans before they died to move to Israel.

Kafr Qasim massacre

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kafr_Qasim_massacre

 Following public protests, eleven Border Police officers and soldiers involved in the massacre were charged with murder in a military court. The trial was presided over by Judge Benjamin Halevy. On October 16, 1958, eight of them were found guilty and sentenced to prison terms. Malinki received 17 and Dahan 15 years imprisonment. The court placed great emphasis on the fundamental responsibility of Shadmi, though the latter was not a defendant. Shadmi was subsequently charged as well, but his separate court hearing (February 29, 1959) found him innocent of murder and only guilty of extending the curfew without authority. His symbolic punishment, a fine of 10 prutot, i.e. a grush (one Israeli cent), became a standard metaphor in Israeli polemic debate.^[17] The fact that other local commanders realised they had to disobey Shadmi's order was cited by the court as one of the reasons for denying Dahan's claim that he had no choice. None of the officers served out the terms of their sentences.^[18]

The court of appeal (April 3, 1959) reduced Malinki's sentence to 14 years and Dahan's to 10. The Chief of Staff further reduced them to 10 and 8 years, then the Israeli President Yitzhak Ben-Zvi pardoned many and reduced some sentences to 5 years each. Finally, the Committee for the Release of Prisoners ordered the remission of one third of the prison sentences, resulting in all the convicted persons being out of prison by November 1959.^[19] Soon after his release, Malinki was promoted and put in charge of security for the top secret Negev Nuclear Research Center. In 1960, Dahan was placed in charge of "Arab Affairs" by the city of Ramla.^[20]

Left-wing parties demand recognition of 'massacre; in Kafr Qassam

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/315645

 With just weeks to go before the state budget must pass if the government is to survive, yet another threat to the stability of the coalition has emerged, again from its left-wing parties, already furious at the decision to go ahead with the reestablishment of the Samarian town of Evyatar as well as last week’s decision by Defense Minister Benny Gantz to declare six “humanitarian” organizations to be terrorist entities due to their affiliation with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

Now Kan News reports another bombshell thrown into the government ranks – MK Aida Touma Suleiman of the United Arab List (UAL) is about to introduce legislation that would make learning about the massacre that allegedly took place in Kafr Qassam in 1956 part of the regular school curriculum. The UAL and Meretz coalition parties have already indicated that they will promote this bill with all the parliamentary influence they can muster.

Meanwhile, both Yamina and New Hope may be expected to oppose the legislation, and they could also be joined by Benny Gantz’s Blue & White party.

Little-Known Facts About The Chofetz Chaim – On His 86th Yahrzeit

 https://www.jewishpress.com/sections/features/little-known-facts-about-the-chofetz-chaim-on-his-86th-yahrzeit/2019/09/26/

 Interestingly, the Chofetz Chaim only cites two contemporary gedolim in his Mishnah Berurah, namely the Or Someach (Rabbi Meir Simcha of Dvinsk) and Rabbi S. Z. Hirschowitz, a lesser known rav in Latvia. The Chofetz Chaim and the Or Someach had serious differences on the question of whether the rabbinate in Czarist Russia should be secularly educated and the Chivat Zion movement, yet he did not hesitate to cite this gadol.

In several Russian rabbinical conferences, the Chofetz Chaim aligned himself with the fifth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Sholom Ber Schneersohn, and Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik of Brisk in strongly opposing any secular education for Russian rabbanim.

Why is Trump running for president again? To stay out of jail

 https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2021-10-24/why-is-trump-running-for-president-again-to-stay-out-of-jail

 And there, no matter how the legal wrangles turn out, lies the answer to a persistent question about Trump: What makes him run?

Ego, surely, in part. A desire to take revenge on his adversaries too.

But two practical reasons, as well.

One is money. Political contributions may be the most reliable revenue stream the Trump family enterprise has at the moment.

The other, equally important, is to bolster his legal defense. As long as he’s running (or even sort of running), Trump can denounce every inquest and subpoena as just another part of a political vendetta. It’s a way to hold his troops together — and to make every prosecutor think twice. 

 He’s notching up another presidential first: He’s running for reelection to stay out of jail.

Former Meretz head Zehava Gal-On to national camp: Get out of here, racist animals

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/315659

In Gal-On’s opinion, those in the political center should stop trying to pander to the right-wing: “The answer to give those on the right is simple: Listen, you piece of racist animal, you homophobe, you other-hater, you misogynist, you who want to drag us into a Taliban regime – we’re not afraid of you. We have values – equality, love of our fellow man, freedom, harmony. So, get out of here before we deal with you the way we dealt with the original fascists.”

Massive allocations to Israel's Arab sector here to stay - Abbas

 https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/politics-and-diplomacy/massive-allocations-to-israels-arab-sector-here-to-stay-abbas-683025

 Ra'am (United Arab List) head Mansour Abbas took credit for more than NIS 30 billion allocated to the Arab sector at a Knesset press conference on Monday.

Abbas said the allocations would have an immediate positive impact on all parts of Arab, Bedouin and Druze society.

"There is a new agenda for Israel and Arab society," Abbas said. "We are taking responsibility and initiative. These plans implement the vision of Ra'am."