Breakaway hassidic leader greeted joyfully in US

 https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/breakaway-hassidic-leader-greeted-joyfully-in-us-684389

 The head of a breakaway faction of the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) Gur hassidic community has been greeted rapturously in America, where he is currently visiting, with thousands lining the streets to greet him and participate in celebrations about his visit.

In a dramatic sequence of events in 2019, Rabbi Shaul Alter, first cousin of the Gur hassidic dynasty’s Grand Rabbi Yaakov Aryeh Alter, split away from the main Gur community following years of tension between the two, with some 300 families in Israel following him at the time.

The split was striking because of Gur’s status as the largest, wealthiest and most influential hassidic community in Israel. As one of the largest hassidic movements in the world, the schism dealt a serious blow to its prestige.

Brooklyn bride discovers her Chabad groom is Muslim after the wedding

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/316544

 A Sephardic Jewish woman in Brooklyn got the shock of her life when she discovered that her new husband, who studied at a Chabad yeshiva and claimed to be a Lebanese Jew, was actually a Muslim of Palestinian Arab descent, Haredi media reported.

Before the wedding, the groom, who went by the name Eliya, had studied for seven years at a Chabad center in Texas. He spoke fluent Hebrew and did not arouse any suspicion.

According to sources involved in the affair, when the young man was asked about his family, he always had 'stories' as to why they were not involved in his life - and why they did not come to his wedding either.

How covert Christian missionaries profoundly hurt Jewish communities

 https://worldisraelnews.com/win-exclusive-how-covert-christian-missionaries-profoundly-hurt-jewish-communities/

 For years, members of the Bukharian Jewish community, who trace their roots back to the former Soviet republic of Uzbekistan, heard whispers about Rabbi Michael Aminov.

The Phoenix, Arizona-based rabbi was widely believed to have signed off on quickie conversions to Judaism, in exchange for hefty fees of up to $50,000.

Lapid: They call me Hitler, threaten to shoot me

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/316533

 Foreign Minister Yair Lapid on Monday revealed the threats sent to him and his wife, Lehi, in light of coalition chairman Idit Silman's claims she was attacked near a gas station.

"I do not know if you saw the article about Amit, the child from Rishon Lezion who was abused at school," the foreign minister said, referring to eeports about a boy who was beaten at his school. "Months of beatings, cursing, humiliation. Do you really think it is unrelated? Our children see us and hear us. Whoever grows up in poison and violence will be a toxic and violent person."

U.S. Covid Deaths Get Even Redder

 https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/08/briefing/covid-death-toll-red-america.html

The brief version: The gap in Covid’s death toll between red and blue America has grown faster over the past month than at any previous point.

In October, 25 out of every 100,000 residents of heavily Trump counties died from Covid, more than three times higher than the rate in heavily Biden counties (7.8 per 100,000). October was the fifth consecutive month that the percentage gap between the death rates in Trump counties and Biden counties widened.

Attacks on George Soros is nothing new for Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu

 https://www.thejc.com/comment/opinion/anshel-pfeffer-attacks-on-george-soros-antisemitism-is-nothing-new-for-israel-s-benjamin-netanyahu-1.458706

Just four days earlier, at a meeting of Likud ministers, Mr Netanyahu said money from Mr Soros was financing the campaign in Israel against his plan to deport 30,000 African migrants in the coming months.

A spokesman for Mr Soros’ Open Society Foundation promptly denied this and later in the day Mr Netanyahu changed his story, this time accusing the New Israel Fund of being behind the anti-deportation drive.

His interior minister Arye Deri, meanwhile, was blaming Reform Jews in the United States.

Whether or not he still believes the Hungarian-born billionaire is somehow involved in trying to block the deportations, Mr Netanyahu already has form when it comes to Soros-bashing.

Debunking the myths surrounding George Soros | Reality Check with John Avlon

How Vilification of George Soros Moved From the Fringes to the Mainstream | NYT News

Israeli families of Ethiopian Jews stranded in war-torn country demand action

 https://www.ynetnews.com/article/r1tzjhbdt

Despite the clear and immediate danger, a recently reveled classified report by the National Security Council said that any attempt to rescue or open a dialogue on evacuating Falash Mura members to Israel is ill-advised as it could lead to political fallout with the Ethiopian authorities.

Integration Minister Pnina Tamano Shata lambasted the document as an attempt to "torpedo the rescue of the rest of Ethiopian Jewry."

 

Rescue of remaining Ethiopian Jews may lead to coalition crisis - report

 https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/politics-and-diplomacy/rescue-of-remaining-ethiopian-jews-may-lead-to-coalition-crisis-report-684334

 A crisis is brewing with Aliyah and Integration Minister Pnina Tamano-Shata (Blue and White) over the continued delay in bringing Ethiopia's remaining Jews to Israel, Army Radio reported on Monday morning. This is due to Tamano-Shata's unwillingness to compromise on the issue, and claims that she will not remain in the government if action is not taken.

According to the report, a classified document compiled by the National Security Council claimed that it is not clear to what extent the 8,000 remaining Jewish are indeed Jewish and to what extent they are actually in danger. The document added that bringing them to Israel without a proper investigation could be a demographic mistake and that a rescue operation may create tensions with Ethiopian authorities.

On Sunday, Haaretz revealed that Israel had already airlifted dozens of Ethiopians out of the war-torn country but then learned that they were not, in fact, Jewish.

JEWISH PENOLOGY: UNANSWERED QUESTIONS by AARON KIRSCHENBAUM

 https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwj3kd7h9Yj0AhXFxIUKHYLDC1IQFnoECAMQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.idc.ac.il%2Fen%2F_layouts%2F15%2FElad.SPS.Idc.Sprint4%2FPages%2FHandler.aspx%3Ftype%3Dpublication%26publicationId%3D3903%26userName%3Dkirsch&usg=AOvVaw0btyQnzLXB7dMh_hGypvPR

 We have undertaken a comprehensive study of halakhic penology throughout Jewish history. In the course of our studies we have been stymied by two major problems: the utter impracticality of the criminal law of the Torah as a means of maintaining law and order, and the strangeness of the kippah penalty.

He discusses these fully issues in his major work Jewish Penology Magnes  press 2013

https://www.magnespress.co.il/en/book/Jewish_Penology-3533

We intend to point out that there was more than one system of Jewish penology. We will elaborate upon the existence of a classical system – retributory and expatiatory – related to a self-perfecting society. Only such a society would ordain a painless penalty for death for criminals guilty of the most serious crimes with malice and forethought and a painful punishment with immediate restoration to one's community for criminals guilty of lesser crimes. Criminal penalties for the purposes of deterrence (private or public) or of social rehabilitation are minor considerations.

 In addition to and alongside the classical penological system, we will be detailing other systems of a more practical nature: one governed by the King's law and others emerging from rabbinical ad hoc urisdiction and communal legislation. These systems are less governed by the classical motivations of strict retribution and religious expiation (which continue to play a role – albeit a relatively minor one); deterrence and social rehabilitation, law and order, are their dominant considerations. Moreover the varying degrees of judicial autonomy granted to the Jewish community by the non-Jewish governments resulted invariations in penal practices among the various communities themselves.

Ethiopian PM to Bennett: You let war criminals into Israel

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/316524

Ethiopia’s prime minister accused Israel of allowing a number of officers involved in a massacre in their home country to find refuge in Israel, slamming Israel’s handling of a recent wave of immigrants from Ethiopia.

According to a report by Israel’s Channel 13 Monday afternoon, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed slammed his Israeli counterpart, Naftali Bennett, claiming that at least three to four of the recent Ethiopian immigrants brought to Israel were actually officers involved in a massacre.

 

An Eye for An Eye ֠Payment for the injury

 https://torah.etzion.org.il/en/eye-eye-%D6%A0payment-injury

             The Rambam's view regarding injury seems to be a continuation of his aforementioned position that not only would there have been room for corporal punishment, but even the money that is paid expresses the fact that "he deserves to lose a limb" – even the monetary payment is a kenas imposed on the person who caused the injury.  

What Does ‘Eye for an Eye’ Really Mean?

 https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/479511/jewish/What-Does-Eye-for-an-Eye-Really-Mean.htm

“An eye for an eye” may be an idiom, but the Torah always uses precise language, so why use this particular phrase? There is a purposeful subtext here: The perpetrator deserves to be injured or lose a limb in the same manner as the victim, but G‑d is compassionate, so the perpetrator makes financial restitution to the victim instead. It’s therefore important to bear in mind that, as is the case with all interpersonal transgressions, merely giving financial compensation should not be seen as having made amends for what was done, which can never fully be corrected; The best we can do is offer monetary compensation and beg forgiveness from the victim.