Authorities in Texas have charged a man with a slew of sex crimes after he apparently fabricated his Jewish identity, adopted nine boys, paraded his “unique family” on social media to hundreds of thousands of followers and allegedly abused a number of children.
Friday, March 3, 2023
Cleveland rabbi sentenced to prison for soliciting underage sex
https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/article-733142
A Cleveland-area rabbi was sentenced to six months in prison on Monday for soliciting underage sex, capping a sad and shocking saga for the area’s Jewish community.
Among those who testified on Stephen Weiss’ behalf in a bid for leniency was a prominent rabbi in the Conservative movement.
Thursday, March 2, 2023
Ramban attacks Ibn Ezra for disagreeing with Chazal
Ramban (Bereishis 46:15) But Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra replied, saying that “this is surprising. For if so, why did Scripture not mention the wonder that befell her, for she gave birth to Moses when she was one hundred and thirty years old? And why did it mention the case of Sarah who gave birth when she was ninety years old? This distress was not yet sufficient for us so that the poets came and composed liturgic poems for the day of Simchath Torah, wherein they state, ‘Jochebed, my mother, will be comforted after me,’ [implying that Jochebed survived her son], and thus she was two hundred and fifty years old at the death of Moses! Is the proof of the poets for this longevity of Jochebed because Ahijah the Shilonite lived a life of great duration? [If so, this is not a proof, for his longevity is but] an Agadic tradition or the opinion of a single authority.” These are the words of Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra.
Now lest he be wise in his own eyes in contradicting the words of our Rabbis,
I must answer him and say that in any case, there is in the matter of Jochebed a great wonder of the hidden miracles which constitute the foundation of the Torah. Jochebed was Levi’s actual daughter, and not merely his offspring, as it is written, Jochebed, the daughter of Levi, whom [her mother] bore to Levi, and it is furthermore written, And Amram took himself Jochebed his father’s sister for a wife. [Thus Amram, Levi’s grandson, married Jochebed, Levi’s daughter.] Now if we would say that Levi begot Jochebed in his younger years, just as he begot all his sons, this would place her birth soon after his descent into Egypt, and she would have been very old at the time of Moses’ birth, at or near the age stated by our Rabbis. And if we would say that he begot her after he resided in Egypt for many years — say, for a period of fifty-seven years — then Levi would have been one hundred years old at Jochebed’s birth, for when he went down to Egypt he was forty-three years of age. In that case, there were two great wonders! [Levi, at the time he begot Jochebed], was as old as Abraham, concerning whom Scripture mentions, Shall a child be born to him who is a hundred years old? and it is further written, And my lord is old also, while Jochebed would still have been an elderly woman of seventy-three when Moses was born! And should we further postpone Jochebed’s birth to the end of Levi’s days, the wonder of his begetting a child will be greater than that of Abraham!
But I will tell you a true principle, clearly indicated in the Torah. Scripture mentions miracles performed through a prophet and which he previously prophesied, or performed by an angel who is revealed in the course of a Divine mission, but those effected naturally in order to help the righteous or destroy the wicked are not mentioned in the Torah or in the books of the prophets.
May this be “hot gold poured into the mouth” of this wise man who refuted the words of our Rabbis in the matter of Phinehas and similar matters in many places.
Why should Scripture mention hidden miracles when all the foundations of the Torah are hidden miracles. In the entire scope of the Torah there are only miracles, and no nature or custom. All assurances of the Torah are in the form of signs and wonders, as it is not natural that he who has connection with one of the forbidden degrees of marriage or he who eats forbidden fat suffers excision or death. Nor is it by nature that the heavens become as iron because we have sowed our fields in the Sabbatical year. Similarly, all the assurances of the Torah concerning those blessings [which will result from our observance of the law], and all the good fortune of the righteous ones because of their righteousness, as well as all the prayers of our king David [in the book of Psalms] and all our prayers, all are founded upon miracles and wonders, except that there is no heralded change in the nature of the world, as I have already mentioned, and I will yet explain it further, with the help of G-d.
I will give you faithful testimony to that which I have said. We know that from the time Israel came into the Land until the birth of our lord David, about three hundred and seventy years elapsed. These years are to be divided among four generations: Salmon, Boaz, Obed, and Jesse [David’s father], each one being allotted ninety-three years. Thus when they begot children they were all approximately as old as Abraham was when he begot Isaac. Furthermore, each one begot his son in the year of his death, a most unusual thing, since in their era the general span of life was not a hundred years. And if one of them begot his son in his younger years, as is usual, the others would have had to be much older than Abraham, and thus the wonder concerning them would be exceedingly great since people in the generation of Abraham lived long, and in the days of David the average lifespan was reduced to a half. And perhaps these four generations lived longer than their contemporaries for it is possible that Salmon was already advanced in years when he entered the Land of Israel. It is for this reason that the masters of Tradition, who are the true Sages, have attributed longevity to Obed, this being a covert miracle which was done to the ancestor of the kingdom [of the house of David], the son of the righteous one [Ruth], who had come to take refuge under the wings of the Divine Presence. The Sages similarly mention longevity in connection with Obed’s mother, Ruth. Now I have already explained that the wonder in the case of Abraham was not as the above-mentioned Sage [Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra] and other masters of the Scriptures have thought. Abraham begot Isaac seventy-five years before his death, prior to the completion of two-thirds of his lifespan, and in all generations, old age does not affect people until three quarters of their lives have passed, just as the doctors have considered the divisions of life to be: childhood, youth, manhood, and old age. In these generations, when the lifespan is about seventy years, doctors do not consider a person aged until after sixty. Moreover, Abraham begot many children forty years after the birth of Isaac, and the wonder is thus manifoldly miraculous! And should we say that G-d caused Abraham to revert to his youthful days, it may be asked why Scripture does not mention this great wonder when it was an open and known miracle which is contrary to nature. Moreover, it is known that in this present generation some men beget children until they are full seventy or eighty years old and more, depending upon the extent to which they retain their natural vitality. Women also have no specific time [for ceasing to conceive], as long as they have their period they can give birth. However, the wonder in the case of Abraham and Sarah, as I explained there, was due to the fact that they had not begotten children in their younger years, and now together they begot a child. In the case of Sarah there was an additional wonder, i.e., that the manner of women had ceased with her, and after this happens, women no longer give birth. Now if Jochebed lived as many years as her father Levi had, and if her vitality remained with her until near her old age, as is the way of women, it would be no wonder if she gave birth at the time set forth by our Rabbis, [namely, at one hundred and thirty years of age]. It is because G-d wanted to redeem Israel though the brothers [Moses and Aaron], and since the time of the redemption had not yet come, He delayed their birth many years until their mother was old. Nothing is too difficult for the Eternal.
Back to the father: the scientist who lost his dad – and resolved to travel to 1955 to save him
However, the story of how Mallett, now emeritus professor at the University of Connecticut, reached this point could have been lifted straight from a comic book. A year after losing his father, Boyd, at the age of 10, Mallett picked up a copy of HG Wells’s The Time Machine and had an epiphany: he was going to build his own time machine, travel back to 1955 and save his father’s life.
Hayim Nissim Cohen, Father of ‘Our Unique Family,’ Sued & Charged with Sexual Abuse of Child
According to the civil suit filed against him, Hayim Nissim Cohen was born Jeffrey Lujan Vejil in 1984 in Odessa, Texas. This is confirmed by a quick Google search finding only one Jeffrey Lujan Vejil in the state of Texas born in 1984. According to the Odessa High School website Jeffrey was part of the graduating class of 2002. In 2005 a picture of him was featured in the Odessa American assisting in relief efforts at a Red Cross shelter set up at UTPB in Odessa, Texas following Hurricane Rita. While he is listed as having attended high school from 1998-2002, I couldn’t find any records online of which college he may have attended to study social work. I was also unable to find any social work license, current or expired, for either Hayim Nissim Cohen, or Jeffrey Vejil. Given the image in the Odessa American, Cohen was not a Williamsbug native, and definitely was born, raised, and lived in Texas until 2005.
Houston adoptive father of 9 used religion, social media to mask abuse of children, prosecutors say
Prosecutors on Friday outlined a hellish life for the adoptive children of Hayim Cohen — whose birth name is Jeffrey Lujan Vejil — that conflicted with Cohen's portrayal of a tight-knit, pious family on social media.
“Behind all that is excessive abuse,” said Janna Oswald, chief prosecutor for the Harris County District Attorney’s Crimes Against Children Division.
Cohen, 38, faces 12 criminal charges, including ones related to child sexual abuse and assault. Each of his court appearances, including Friday's, has revealed new, alleged layers of deceit.
Tuesday, February 28, 2023
Does God have a body?
https://www.jpost.com/magazine/judaism/does-god-have-a-body-331789
Maimonides also deemed the early mystical work Shiur Koma, a midrashic work from the Heichalot literature that graphically depicts God’s exact measurements, as heretical and stemming from non-Jewish hands. Following in his father’s footsteps, Maimonides’s son Abraham maintained that believing in a corporeal God was equivalent to worshiping demons or idols, and further sniped that it was no surprise that Christians were generally supportive of those Ashkenazi scholars who vociferously opposed Maimonidean teachings.
Maimonides #3 - God's Incorporeality
Although the concept of God's incorporeality is generally understood, the parallel concept of His non-spirituality is not well known. Although God is frequently referred to as a spiritual Being, we apply the term loosely for lack of another word. If a material object is defined as being confined to time and space, while something spiritual is confined in terms of time but not in terms of space, then it must be concluded that God is neither physical nor spiritual. The Almighty is confined neither in space nor in time. All material and spiritual beings were created by Him, as it is written (Genesis 1:1): "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."
Tucker Carlson Thinks Ohio Train Tracks Are Anti-White
https://www.thedailybeast.com/tucker-carlson-thinks-ohio-train-tracks-are-anti-white?ref=scroll
Fox News’ Tucker Carlson hinted at a new conspiracy theory to explain the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, and it’s that the train coming off the tracks in an area with a lot of white people was probably on purpose.
“East Palestine is overwhelmingly white and it’s politically conservative and that shouldn’t be relevant, but it very much is,” Tucker is quoted as saying.
McCarthy Gave Tucker the Jan. 6 Tapes. Trump Allies Are Threatening to Sue
“Why not other media? Why not Newsmax? Why did he just give one host, on one cable network, this information?” Eric Bolling, another longtime friend of Trump’s, said on his Newsmax TV show on Thursday. During Trump’s failed effort to cling to power following the 2020 presidential election, Fox brass were actively worried that Newsmax was pulling away too many of the cable-news giant’s viewers, as the two channels competed to attract Trump-loving, election-denying demographics.
Covid ‘lab leak theory’: What we’ve learned
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/02/27/politics/covid-lab-leak-what-matters/index.html
The change in opinion by the Energy Department’s intelligence office is far from a total backing of the “lab leak” theory.
For starters, the conclusion was reached only with “low confidence,” as opposed to medium or high confidence.
Zero-calorie sweetener linked to heart attack and stroke, study finds
n response to the study, the Calorie Control Council, an industry association, told CNN that “the results of this study are contrary to decades of scientific research showing reduced-calorie sweeteners like erythritol are safe, as evidenced by global regulatory permissions for their use in foods and beverages,” said Robert Rankin, the council’s executive director, in an email.
The results “should not be extrapolated to the general population, as the participants in the intervention were already at increased risk for cardiovascular events,” Rankin said.
Subscribe to:
Posts
(
Atom
)