Rav Ovadia Yosef is claimed to approve EJF seminars

[in a press release apparently from EJF itself it is claimed that Rav Yosef approves of EJF seminars - but no actual letter was published]

Yeshiva World News

Rabbi Ovadia Yosef yesterday issued a halachic ruling that it is a "great mitzvah to conduct seminars for intermarried couples" interested in building a Jewish home.

Rabbi Yosef was referring to seminars sponsored by the Eternal Jewish Family for intermarried couples that include a non-Jew seeking a halachic conversion and a Jew who agrees to become a baal teshuva. Rav Yosef's ruling is consistent with many p'sakim of previous and contemporary Gedolei Hatorah who say that unlike ordinary geyrus, it is permitted to be "mekarev" such a couple, particularly where the Jew will be atoning for his/her mistake by becoming a baal teshuva. [...]

Rav Ovadia Yosef commented that conversion courts are too stringent

Jerusalem Post just reported the following. I personally find this item rather strange in that it doesn't directly mention what Rav Ovaida Yosef's view is in regards to the recent ruling concerning Rav Druckman's conversions. It is difficult to fathom the significance of this report - since what it says he said is not being disputed. Therefore the conclusions drawn are simply not justified. Any more comprehensive reports of the view of Rav Ovadia Yosef, shlita would be greatly appreciated. See Yeshiva World's comment.

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"Conversion courts are too stringent"

Preeminent Sephardi halachic authority Rabbi Ovadia Yosef said this week that conversion courts were being too inflexible and stringent with potential converts, said sources close to the rabbi.

"Accepting the yoke of the commandments is essential for conversion," Yosef reportedly told a small group of Shas MKs and functionaries. "But we must not push off converts too much. It is not right to cause them pain by rejecting them."

According to MK Haim Amsalem (Shas), who was present when Yosef made the comments, Yosef quoted from the Babylonia Talmud to prove that rabbis should be lenient and welcoming when dealing with potential converts.

The Talmud (Sanhedrin 99-100) relates that the patriarch Abraham rejected Timna who wished to become his concubine. Instead, Timna married Eliphaz, Abraham's great grandson through Eisav and gave birth to Amalek, the Jewish people's archenemy.

Yosef said that from this passage in the Talmud we must learn to be more accepting of gentiles who wish to become a part of the Jewish people.

Yosef's comments come as a group of haredi Ashkenazi rabbis have launched an attack on the Conversion Authority, the official state-sponsored body responsible for conversions, for being too lenient.

Chief Sephardi Rabbi Shlomo Amar, who is responsible for conversions, has also been severely criticized by the haredi community for giving his backing to the conversion authority.

Amar, one of Yosef's protégés, has been under pressure to adopt more stringencies with respect to the acceptance of converts. However, Yosef's more lenient stance on the issue will give Amar the rabbinic backing he needs to stand up to this pressure.

Yosef's position also underlines differences in approach between Sephardi rabbis, who tend to be more lenient in their halachic rulings in comparison to haredi Ashkenazi rabbis.

How ‘Coward and Phony’ Tim Pool Became One of the Biggest Political YouTubers on the Planet

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-coward-and-phony-tim-pool-became-one-of-the-biggest-political-youtubers-on-the-planet 

Since then, Pool has discovered a style of commentary and audience where a lack of knowledge or journalistic skills might not prove an impediment to success. In some ways, incuriosity and incapacity serve as valuable attributes in this medium. Not solely because of the political valence but thanks in part to how YouTube itself functions: rewarding the kind of high-volume, sensationalized, and sloppy churn Pool specializes in.

Fox News Accused of Radicalizing Americans by Former Neo-Nazi Recruiter

 https://www.newsweek.com/fox-news-accused-radicalizing-americans-former-neo-nazi-recruiter-1574330

Frank Meeink, once a prominent neo-Nazi, previously went to prison for kidnapping a man and beating another man unconscious. Although Meeink used to host a talk show called The Reich, he turned against his extremist views in the aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995—which was carried out by domestic white nationalist terrorists. Speaking to CNN in a Saturday interview, Meeink said the stuff he now hears on Fox News sounds like the things he used to say to recruit and radicalize white Americans.

"It's fear and narcissism. And that fake patriotism, that's just nationalism wrapped up again with worshipping an idol," Meeink said, commenting on what is driving the growth in domestic extremism within the U.S. "But, again, what we can do is with these people that are just continuously passing conspiracies, is we have to realize that Fox News, and I know that this is CNN, but Fox News has completely radicalized so many Americans," he said.

Rav Schachter’s Bright-Line Rule On Halachic Innovation

 https://cross-currents.com/2014/02/10/rav-schachters-bright-line-rule-on-halachic-innovation/

Rav Schachter begins with trenchant criticism of those who write teshuvos when they are not qualified to do so. Not everyone who has learned in yeshiva, or even in kollel, or received semicha, he says, is authorized to write responsa. To be considered the gemara’s magia le’hora’ah / one who has attained the stature and background necessary to pasken new questions, a candidate’s learning need be balanced. People who lean excessively to the side of kula, or to the side of chumrah, cannot properly write teshuvos.

This is the real intent of the gemara. When our souls are filled with enthusiasm to draw closer to Hashem and we hit upon activities that we think will best express our love for Him, we need to pause. Any such activity needs to be scrutinized by “recognized gedolei Torah.” They are the embodiment of the zikeinim that the gemara references in Shabbos. Without their approval, any such activity may be devoid of any real meaning.

‘Gedolim’ are human

 https://www.jpost.com/opinion/gedolim-are-human-456462

There seems to be a strong tendency and need, especially from members of the haredi and hassidic community, to view their religious and spiritual leaders as perfect and infallible. This enables them to place their complete reliance and trust in them and their decisions and increases their dependency on them, which to a great extent is facilitated and encouraged by the leaders.

Pesak, Gedolim, and Halakhah

 https://www.yutorah.org/_cdn/_materials/Handout-on-Gedolim-Pesak-Humanism-Halakha-546795.pdf

One of the most difficult questions in this field, relates to and encompasses the topic of our discussion: If there is no 'da’at', how can we have 'Da’at Torah'? To illustrate this, I will relate a story. Many years ago, I travelled to Bnei Brak to console my rabbi and teacher, Rav Yitzchak Hutner zt'l, in his mourning, when his wife had passed away. When I went to see him, I found him sitting alone. We had a private conversation, and this was conducted in a very open and honest fashion, from one heart to another. Rav Hutner told me that one of the talmidei chachamim who came to console him, tried to convince him and to 'explain' to him how his wife's passing was 'positive', inasmuch as she was now in the world of truth, a world which is entirely positive and other such nonsense… It is superfluous to state that saying such things is totally unsuitable. I remember that when Rav Hutner told me this, he raised his voice and he applied the following severe words of the Midrash to that talmid chacham (Vayikra Rabba 1): "Any talmid chacham who lacks 'da’at' is worse than a putrid animal carcass!"

Two Types of Orthodox Judaism

 https://www.torahmusings.com/2011/07/two-types-of-orthodox-judaism/

To be sure, every movement, religious or otherwise, needs a level of hischadshus, innovation. But this problem is solved by the idea of Gedolim, the leaders and halakhic decisors who are the arbiters of the tradition and who determine what is and what is not considered an authentic part of Judaism. When the Gedolim, the masters of the mesorah, give their imprimatur to an innovation, the innovation becomes justified and validated.

US Justice Department probing Trump's efforts to overturn election

 https://www.jpost.com/american-politics/article-713159

The US Justice Department is investigating Donald Trump's actions in its criminal probe of the former president's attempts to overturn his 2020 election defeat, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday, citing sources.

Jews, non-Christians not part of conservative movement - GOP candidate consultant

 https://www.jpost.com/american-politics/article-713128

Jews and other non-Christians are "not conservative" because it is "an explicitly Christian movement" and because the US "is an explicitly Christian country," said Andrew Torba, the CEO of Gab and reportedly a consultant for state senator Doug Mastriano, the Republican candidate for governor of Pennsylvania, in a livestream responding to recent condemnations of Mastriano and Gab.

Trump: ‘Fox & Friends’ has gone to the ‘dark side’

 https://thehill.com/homenews/media/3572831-trump-fox-friends-has-gone-to-the-dark-side/

Former President Trump tore into Fox News’s flagship morning program on Monday, lashing out at its hosts for their coverage of his polling as he eyes another run for president in 2024.

“@foxandfriends just really botched my poll numbers, no doubt on purpose,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social, the social network platforming he started after leaving office. “That show has been terrible — gone to the ‘dark side.’ They quickly quote the big Turning Point Poll victory of almost 60 points over the number two Republican, and then hammer me with outliers.”

Gilboa prison pimping affair: New sexual assault allegation emerges

 https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-713020?fbclid=IwAR0kjCpZuWe2zeJZrw587PjIE4WxLN0wEMLYv_yOAZDNLTK3yH1QT1trT8I

Judge Michael Karshan from the Lod District Court overturned the decision, allowing for some details to be published from Lahav 433, the National Crime Unit, Ynet added.

"If I could only tell you how terrible the acts committed against this poor soldier, you would be horrified," tweeted Levi after the news got out.

"They fought tooth and nail to stop this case from getting out. I wish they would fight that way for sexual assault victims."

Ben Shapiro and Har HaBayis: Why He Was Wrong to Go Up

https://vinnews.com/2022/07/25/ben-shapiro-and-har-habayis-why-he-was-wrong-to-go-up/

Recently, it was widely reported that Ben Shapiro and others travelled to and entered he Temple Mount. While the sentiment that lies behind his action is certainly admirable in that he wishes to ensure Jewish sovoreignty over har habayis, the action itself lies in stark contrast to the position of the great poskim of the generation, Rav Edelstein shlita, Rav Elyashiv zatzal, Rav Chaim zatzal, Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach zt”l, and so many others. What follows is a halachic analysis of why we should not, at this point, be praying on the Har Habayis. The author feels bad because Ben Shapiro is someone that the author admires greatly.

RABBI WEINBERG’S AGONY

https://www.firstthings.com/article/2001/06/rabbi-weinbergs-agony

Weinberg was a talmudic scholar of the first order, and his published volumes quickly assumed canonical status in the eyes of the Orthodox rabbinic elite. His halakhic rulings were closely attended to by all sectors of Orthodox Jewry, and as such played an important role in the evolution of Jewish law in the twentieth century. Weinberg’s death in 1966 was mourned by Orthodox Jews around the world as the loss of an exemplary religious personality. How is it then that this rabbinic giant penned a series of letters that give voice, as Schacter describes it, to a “lonely, frustrated, bitter, and tragic life?” How is it that this pillar of the Orthodox establishment wrote letter after letter in which, to quote Schacter again, he lashed out against the “hypocrisy, extremism, and unethical behavior he found within Orthodoxy”? Clearly there is a puzzle here, one that badly needs solving.

The conservative component in Weinberg’s stance as a rabbinic decisor is strikingly evident in his refusal, as late as 1960, to issue an unambiguous ruling permitting women’s suffrage. Here was an instance of rank discrimination against women. Here also was a situation in which Weinberg saw no direct halakhic impediment to a permissive ruling. Still, when he took up the issue in a published responsum, he waffled, taking note of those decisors who opposed suffrage for women on grounds of “female modesty.” Under the circumstances, Weinberg was only willing to suggest, as Shapiro puts it, that the “matter be left alone as it would eventually be worked out by itself.”