In rare move, ultra-Orthodox Jewish magazine publishes photo of a woman

 https://www.jpost.com/j-spot/article-739002

But Orthodox feminists took notice of the photo, which depicts Miller wearing a hat and is shaded in blue. The cover of Safier’s book features the same image and design. The print version of the article also included a photograph with the face of another woman — Rebbetzin Temi Kamenetsky, the late wife of Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetsky, a prominent Lithuanian haredi rabbi who lives in Philadelphia.

CNN's selective problem with who did what

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/369963

According toCNN International, while Israelis shoot and kill Palestinians, Israeli cars “receive” bullets and the occupants die in a “crash.” That is how, at least, two separate incidents were described during a single segment on Isa Soares Tonight on April 10.

Greene defends accused Ukraine documents leaker

 https://thehill.com/homenews/house/3949488-greene-defends-accused-ukraine-documents-leaker/

“Jake Teixeira is white, male, christian, and antiwar. That makes him an enemy to the Biden regime,” Greene said on Twitter.

Greek crowds attack Israeli fans, players in Athens Basketball game

 https://www.ynetnews.com/article/s1ytctvg2#autoplay

Israeli basketball players and their fans came under attack from Greek crowds in Athens during the FIBA Champions League quarterfinal series in Athens on Wednesday, burning the Israeli flag and throwing firecrackers onto the court, and hurling rocks at the Israeli fans in the stands. 

Tennessee Democrats see a ‘once in a lifetime’ shot at relevance

 https://www.politico.com/news/2023/04/12/tennessee-democrats-justin-jones-pearson-00091631

While Republicans intended their ouster of two progressive lawmakers last week to be a punishment, the move has turned into one of the Democratic Party’s best chances in years to boost their organization in the South. Democrats are dreaming up ways to claw back some power from the GOP, fueled by an influx of out-of-state dollars and new commitments from Tennesseans to get involved with politics.

Gun deaths among children are soaring

 https://www.axios.com/2023/04/10/gun-deaths-among-children-are-soaring

While the majority of adult gun deaths are by suicide, children and teens killed by gunfire are more likely to die by homicide (60%).

Resurrection with clothing

 Sanhedrin (90b)  Queen Cleopatra asked R. Meir, ‘I know that the dead will revive, for it is written, And the righteous] shall in the distant future blossom forth out of Jerusalem like the grass of the earth. But when they arise, shall they arise nude or in their garments?’ He replied, ‘Thou mayest deduce by an a fortiori argument the answer from a wheat grain: if a grain of wheat, which is buried naked, sprouteth forth in many robes, how much more so the righteous, who are buried in their raiment!’

Justin Jones, one of the two expelled Tennessee lawmakers, reinstated by Nashville council

 https://nypost.com/2023/04/10/justin-jones-one-of-the-two-expelled-tennessee-lawmakers-reinstated-by-nashville-council/

The Nashville Metro Council on Monday unanimously voted in favor of reinstating Tennessee state Rep. Justin Jones back into office just days after he was ousted for calling for gun reform on the chamber floor. 

Jones, 27, was one of the two black Democratic lawmakers expelled by the Republican-controlled Tennessee General Assembly after a gun control protest on the House floor after a deadly school shooting. 

Fox News Pundit Admits ‘We Have to Talk About Guns’ After Louisville Massacre

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/fox-news-pundit-admits-we-have-to-talk-about-guns-after-louisville-shooting?ref=home

After yet another mass shooting featuring an assault-style weapon, Fox News contributor Ted Williams told the conservative channel’s audience that “we have to talk about guns” because AR-15s “are killing our babies.”

He continued: “Just two weeks ago, I stood in front of a camera—when you had some kids, some babies, shot in Nashville, Tennessee—where a person that had an AR-15! And from what we have been told here, Neil, this individual had that same kind of a weapon.”

Resurrection - Why not explicit in Torah?

 Rabbeinu Bachya (Devarim 32:43)  There are many people who are wondering why such an important concept as that of the resurrection has not been spelled out in the written Torah in detail. Seeing that the Torah has spelled out in detail many less important concepts, sometimes repeating them several times, the failure to spell out the concept of resurrection of the dead is considered especially puzzling. The fact is that Torah addresses first and foremost terrestrial matters of concern to us. 

Rabbeinu Bachya (Devarim 32:43) The life of disembodied souls in the celestial regions while awaiting the resurrection, has similarly been alluded to only in the vaguest manner. The average reader may not even notice these allusions whereas the elite may notice their significance. The truth is that the written Torah was given to and for the multitude who do not concern themselves overly with abstract matters, matters of interest primarily to the intellect rather than to the senses.

Nashville council to vote on restoring expelled Tennessee lawmaker Rep. Justin Jones

 https://nypost.com/2023/04/10/nashville-council-to-vote-on-restoring-expelled-tennessee-lawmaker-rep-justin-jones/

Many council members have publicly commented that they want to send Jones back to the statehouse. The vote will happen as state lawmakers hold their first floor sessions since last week’s expulsion votes.

Expelled Memphis Rep. Justin Pearson, meanwhile, could be reappointed at a Wednesday meeting of the Shelby County Commission.

“Thank G‑d I have no need for knowledge about child abuse!” – the mitzva to use seichal

I was recently asked by a young talmid chachom what I had published recently. He told me that he regularly utilizes my seforim -  Yad Moshe and Yad Yisroel and has thoroughly studied the sources in Daas Torah and had found them useful sources of necessary information. When I said that I had just published three volumes on the issue of child abuse  he responded, “Thank G‑d I have no need for knowledge about child abuse for my children!”

This was a disturbing assertion but one which is fairly common in our community. He was saying that child abuse is something that happens to others and that since his children weren’t molested and not likely to be – he didn’t want to hear about the topic. He was also implying that child abuse was not common and therefore he didn’t have to worry about guarding against it or being concerned that someone he knew – was a victim of chid abuse or was an abuser.

The Chofetz Chaim made a similar observation about the common attitude towards misfortune and death. He said people viewed tragedies as something which only happened to those who belong to an exclusive group – the sufferers/mourners. It wasn’t of concern or relevance to the average person since he obviously didn’t belong to the group. Therefore there was no need to prepare or even think about such things. 

The issue boils down to the following claim, “What is the problem with acting with great faith (bitachon) and not worrying about unpleasant events? Don’t we have a principle – ‘Don’t open your mouth to Satan?’ If we don’t talk about negative things – aren’t they less likely to happen?

In reply to this claim we might point out that in reality abuse is not a rare event in our community. Furthermore awareness is needed to protect one’s children against abuse or rescue them from a molester. But in addition to these issues of reality, there is also a major religious principle being violated here. Avoiding and not seeking out necessary information is itself a sin and the nullification of the G‑d given qualities which distinguishes man from animals. Our Sages tell us that it is a sin not to use one’s seichal and that one ends up with needless suffering as a result.

When Bilam was criticized by the angel after beating his donkey for not obeying him  - he stated, “I have sinned because I didn’t know (Bamidbar 22:34). The Sefer Chasidim, Shaloh, Netziv and others note that Bilam had not intentionally ignored the angel. He simply had other things on his mind and hadn’t thought about why his donkey was refusing to move forward. As the Shaloh asks, we have a principle that one is not accountable for events that are beyond our control – or done without intention – so why was this a sin?

The Shaloh (Parshas Balak Derech Chaim #21 and elsewhere) answers that a person is held accountable for events that he could have anticipated and didn’t. His reaction to his donkey should have been, “My donkey never betrayed me – what is the reason for his resistance?” The Shaloh states that a person has an absolute obligation to seek out information and analyze events to prevent harm and sin (Adam Mo'ad L'Olam Bava Kamma 26a). He is liable for that which he could have known and didn't try to find out or understand.. The commentaries to Berachos (33a) and Sanhedrin (92a) state that the essence of man is his intelligence and ability to anticipate the future. Failure to do so, not only is harmful but actually nullifies the G‑d given qualities of the essence of being man – his mind. Consequently the gemora (Sanhedrin 92) notes that it is prohibited to show mercy to one who doesn’t use his seichal, it is prohibited even to give him food and finally that the Jews were sent into exile because they didn’t use their seichal.

Being a Jew demands the full use of seichal!

We've come a long way - It is now commonplace to criticize rabbis for failure to deal with abuse

Not too long ago - only about three years - when I was contemplating publishing my books on child abuse, I was advised by rabbis, friends and family that it was suicidal. There were two major reasons given. 1) "We don't talk about abuse." Stores told me they would not sell any book that had the word abuse in its title or used the word "sex" in it. Someone who had initially offered support for the book, withdrew it when he saw that I actually explicitly discussed sexual abuse in the book. 2) "You can't criticize rabbis for failure to deal with the issue." Or rather I was told I can't make the claim that rabbis were not following halacha - it was viewed as an oxymoron. Obviously rabbis follow halacha because that is what rabbis do - at least Chareidi rabbis.

In fact I was told that I was going to be put into cherem and that nobody would sell the book or buy it. Rav Sternbuch, however, was insistent that the issue of child abuse needed to be dealt with and he urged the publication of the book.

Fast forward to the present. In the past week I have had the following encounters. 1) After kayaking on the Jordan River - someone gave me a seat on the overcrowded bus returning us to the parking lot. In the ensuring conversation, I discovered that he had a kollel for Choshen Mishpat. I mentioned that I was dealing with child abuse and C.M. 388. He responded that the rabbis either didn't know halacha or were grossly misapplying it in regards to abusers. Furthermore he had quit a good teaching job at a yeshiva because of his disgust with the school's failure to deal properly with child abuse. Thus after a few minutes of first meeting another Chareidi Jew we were openly discussing the problem of abuse and the failure of rabbis to follow the halacha. 2) I had a long talk with a relative who is a solid talmid chachom learning in Kollel. He is a very strict about lashon harah, respecting rabbinical authority and is strongly against Internet, smart phones and believes in Daas Torah and only reads the Yated. Yet he readily acknowledged that he personally knew cases of abuse that were mishandled by rabbonim and is fully aware of the cowardice of poskim in  dealing with the issue of mesira and calling the police. He also expressed surprise that I thought that any rabbi would apologize for making a serious mistake. 3) Today I met a very well known Yerushalmi posek and rav that I haven't seen for years. He remembered who I was and asked me what I was working on. When I responded, "Child abuse" - he readily expressed strong approval. When I told him my biggest problem was that the rabbonim don't follow the halacha - this well known exemplar of the rabbinic establishment's immediate response was , "I can tell you some really good stories about that." There was no hesitation, no defensiveness. It was simply an obvious fact - such as the sun rises in the morning or objects fall when dropped.

Theology and therapy

 I was once consulted by a young lady who had been molested by some frum boys when she was ten. She concealed the event from her parents and became increasingly withdrawn and depressed. As a teenager she tried committing suicide. Had a mental breakdown. Was hospitalized in a mental hospital for several years. Now at the age of 20, she seemed fully recovered, cheerful and productive.

My question to her was, now that it is over why are you coming to me? She replied that she has learned to deal with the horrible memories, the pain and degradation. She has learned to let go of feelings of revenge. She has a single problem left. She had asked a single question to all the rabbis she has consulted, “Why did G-d do this to me?” They all replied with some version of, “G-d always does what is best and for reasons beyond our comprehension felt that you had to be raped.” She said simply, “I can’t accept that G-d is so cruel!” My response was that these rabbis were wrong. That they were providing her with one legitimate view of theology i.e., that all that happens is caused by G-d. But there is an alternative view – that of all the Rishonim.

This view says that one man can harm another man – even though G-d doesn’t want it to happen. This is the view not only of Rishonim but is that expressed in Michtav M’Eliyahu, the Netziv citing the Zohar, it is also the view of the Maharal. Thus I told her, G-d did not want it to happen but He gives free-will to man, He does not stop man from acting. You have suffered greatly but will be compensated in the World to Come. She replied that she could live with such an understanding of G-d, while the other view was totally unacceptable. However other victims receive greater consolation from the original answer. One needs to be sensitive to individual differences.