College leaders around the country stumbled in their early responses to the Oct. 7 attacks, attempting to appease activists on both sides of the seemingly intractable issue. Some issued updates to their public statements, or clarifications to those updates, as they weighed their responsibility as moral arbiters, protectors of free speech and administrators aiming to keep their campuses safe.
Wednesday, December 6, 2023
Heads of 3 top US colleges refuse to say calling for genocide of Jews is harassment
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson quoted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the press conference.
“I think Prime Minister Netanyahu probably said it the best: This truly is a battle between good versus evil, light versus darkness, civilization versus barbarism, and the idea that this is happening on college campuses, university campuses, across this land is unconscionable to us,” he said. “This antisemitism has become all too common. It’s turning to violence in some of these places. And the idea that university administrators would not speak out, would not take care of this problem, is just beyond comprehension.”
Biden: 'We must condemn sexual violence by Hamas – the world can’t just look away
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/381501
US President Joe Biden, spoke at a Tuesday fundraising event in Boston for his election campaign and mentioned the war in Gaza.
“Hamas terrorists have caused so much pain and suffering for women and young girls. The world cannot be silent. It is our responsibility to condemn the Hamas terrorists’ sexual violence,” said Biden. “Let’s be clear, Hamas’ refusal to release the women caused the renewal of fighting.”
He added that “all hostages still held by Hamas must be immediately released and returned to their families. We won’t stop.”
Monday, December 4, 2023
Parnossa
I have been working on a sefer that tries to define the boundaries between the natural and the supernatural i.e. idolatry and segulas and heresy magic medicine and miracles - the sefer has grown to over 1700 pages without getting passed the conclusion that it is a machlokes. It is too big and there is no clear path to make it smaller
This Shabbos an Avreich asked me whether I have ever written a sefer about parnossa
While my sefer Daas Torah mentions this with regard to bitachon, I realized this also involves the boundary between the natural and supernatural. In particular the idea of hishstadlus. Therefore I am starting over from this perspective and hopefully can a clearer picture in less than 800 pages. This seems very relevant to the many Kollel couples who were told not to worry about money but to have bitachon or the current position in the chareidi world that there is no need for an army or doctors if we are devoted to Torah study and mitzvos and/or segulos
Henry Kissinger’s (Maybe) Last Interview: Drop the 2-State Solution
I believe the West Bank should be put under Jordanian control rather than aim for a two-state solution which leaves one of the two territories determined to overthrow Israel. Egypt has moved closer to the Arab side, so Israel will have a very difficult time going forward. I hope that at the end of it there will be a negotiation, as I had the privilege to conduct at the end of the Yom Kippur War. At that time, Israel was stronger relative to the surrounding powers. Nowadays, it requires a greater involvement of America to prevent a continuation of the conflict.
The Far Right's Losing War on Schools |
https://www.newsweek.com/far-rights-losing-war-schools-opinion-1848602
There is one big problem with Moms for Liberty-style bomb throwing around schools—the landscape of public opinion is precisely the opposite of what the culture warriors think it is. The typical reactionary bromide against public education features seething hostility to teachers' unions, contempt for teachers themselves and cherry-picked stories about something one loopy teacher out of 3.8 million public school educators in the United States did or some random edict issued by one outlier among the country's more than 13,000 school districts and 98,000 schools.
Sunday, December 3, 2023
Family says Yuval Castleman, killed after taking out terrorists, was ‘executed’
The family of Yuval Doron Castleman, 37, who died after being shot at the scene of a terror attack in Jerusalem by a soldier who apparently mistook him for a terrorist on Friday branded his killing an “execution.”
Acknowledge the Sacrifice
https://mishpacha.com/inbox-issue-988/
I am writing to express how disillusioned, hurt, and disturbed I feel after reading Yisroel Besser’s argument that yeshivah bochurim in time of war should receive the same recognition and attention as Israeli soldiers on the battlefield.
The act and value of learning Torah should ideally make a person deeper, more truthful, and multi-dimensional. Can we, as a community, be broad and truthful enough to acknowledge that while the cheftzah of Torah learning is the most valuable one in the world, those learning with the intense encouragement of their community and family are, for the most part, not sacrificing in the same way as those risking their lives on the battlefield — for the safety and security of Yiddishe lives in Eretz Yisrael?
Are we, as a community, so small and superficial that we cannot admit this truth? Must we self-righteously write articles about the equal dedication of yeshivah bochurim “when the dead are still lying in front of him?” Yisroel Besser, do you believe our community or yeshivah bochurim are that weak, insecure, or one-dimensional?
The Lubavitcher Rebbe acknowledged the soldiers’ true sacrifice, saying, “In one way, the soldiers are more holy than even the holy learners of Torah because they sacrifice their limb and life.” It is not that hard to be clear, truthful, and deep.
I need to believe that a community making Torah learning its central value is a community where appreciation of truth, depth, and intuitive sensitivity resides. This is why I feel so pained, hurt, and disillusioned. Yisroel Besser, I have always enjoyed your articles and respect your writing. You obviously have a huge audience who respects your voice. I implore you to please rectify the harm you have done by writing a public article degrading bnei Torah and portraying them as people who are small.
Sincerely,
Rabbi Shmuel Gefen
Lack of Appreciation [Voice in the Crowd / Issue 986]
Dear Rabbi Besser,
I always enjoy your column and writing. Your relevant, blunt, and often amusing perspective gives us real food for thought. But your latest piece upset and angered me. More, it saddened me. I think I see the point you were trying to make. But in doing so, you showed a disconnect to so many of us in Eretz Yisrael.
You write of the sacrifice of the bochurim, you described them as they “squared their shoulders, hugged their parents goodbye, and boarded flights,” and stated that we need to be “at least as appreciative” to them as the soldiers.
I want to preface this with saying that I do absolutely believe that learning and tefillah is the source of our strength, and any victory will come through that. But in your wording, in your equivalence of their sacrifice of going back to a, yes, air-conditioned beis medrash with a bomb shelter steps away, you showed a lack of hakaros hatov and understanding of the mesirus nefesh of soldiers and their families.
For when these soldiers “square their shoulders” and hug their parents, they do so knowing they may not come back. Some have not. While I’m appreciative of those women who struggle through bath and bedtime routine alone yet again because their husbands are learning an extra seder for Klal Yisrael, it really doesn’t compare to those wives who haven’t spoken to their husbands for two weeks or more at a time, knowing they are under fire and trying to keep their children protected from that reality. While we appreciate and see the value of those shvitzing over a blatt Gemara, can we compare that mesirus nefesh to soldiers who haven’t showered in weeks or changed clothing or eaten a hot meal, and every day put their bodies on the line?
When campaigns for kollelim talk about the yungeleit being “on the frontlines,” to my mind this shows a distance from understanding what those words mean. Yes, they are the shield of Klal Yisrael, but the frontline is when you see the eyes and weapons of the enemy blow up in front of you.
Maybe I am a bit raw when I read this. I have spent a week in and out of the shivah home of a boy in our community who fell in battle. I watch a family so full of emunah and bitachon, a home full of chesed, not broken but now with a permanent hole.
We should all be raw from this. We should all be sensitive to this. Yes, we need to appreciate the Torah and the chesed and the tefillah. But in terms of mesirus nefesh, let us not kid ourselves into such complacency, equivalence, and disrespect.
Dalya Goldstein
Friday, December 1, 2023
Kaminetsky-Greenblatt Heter: Tell your Rav or Rosh Yeshiva you are adopting the Kaminetsky approach to halacha
Since the day that the Temple was destroyed, the Holy One, blessed be He, has nothing in this world but the four cubits of Halachah alone. (Berachos 8a).
It is clearly not enough to serve G-d simply by davening or just keeping Shabbos. It is not enough even if you also believe the 13 principles of faith It is still not enough even if you learn Torah day and night.The reason for the creation of the world and man was to keep Torah The commandments of the Torah must be obeyed - the mitzvos done and the prohibition obeyed. And they must be done properly
We all know that there are different degrees of keeping mitzvos even though as a minimum all the commandments must be kept. The chareidi world prides itself on not looking for the easy solution to halachic question – but rather our concern is to try make sure that we do what G-d expects of us – no matter how difficult or what sacrifices have to be made. We are not like the Conservative that only keep that which is convenient or the Reform that only keep that which they want at that moment. We are not even like the Modern Orthodox who seem to believe that anything which is pleasurable must be permitted. If there is a question of whether a Torah mitzvos is being kept it is necessary to be machmir while a sofek derabbon we can be meikel.. In cases where the appropriate halacha for a particular situation is in doubt there are a number of strategies. In a dispute of poskim we can follow the majority or follow the greatest posek or follow the local minhag. Alternatively in a dispute in halacha we can try to act in a way that fulfills the requirements of most poskim.
In general we look to gedolim to provide role models of how to observe halacha. In general they don’t say it enough to simply pick a view of any posek. Thus the Mishna Berura paskens in a way that it fulfills the views of the major poskim. Or the Aruch HaShulchan argues for the view that he finds most convincing or what is local practice. Rabbi Akiva Eiger and Rav Moshe Feinstein say psak is following what is considered the strongest sevara . Rav Ben Tzion Abbah Shaul says that psak is finding a strategy for minimizing error. He notes the exception of the views of the Shulchan Aruch which are authoritative because they have been accepted by the Jewish people. While the strength of the kabbalistic views of the Arizal is that they are based on ruach hakodesh.
Bottom line we see a great concern of poskeim and gedolim in all ages to take great care to minimize the likelihood of erring in halacha and to focus on ascertaining what G-d wants – and not simply what the daughter of an important supporter wants.
In view of this taking great care not to violate halacha – even for a minhag and surely for a rabbinic law and it goes without saying not a Torah law. – what we find in the production and protection of the Kaminetsky-Greenblatt Heter is simply astounding. The Kaminetkskys contacted poskim all over the world – not to ask them what to do but to ask them to agree that Tamar did not need a Get based on phony psychiatric report that the husband was crazy. They carefully described in their letter that in addition to the husband being crazy, that no woman would want to be married to him and that Rav Moshe Feinstein had said in such a case that there was no valid marriage.
However they neglected to mention that the psychiatric diagnosis that the psychiatrist gave – based on the wife’s testimony without speaking to the husband – even if accurate was not severe enough that a wife typically would want a divorce. They neglected to mention that the wife had not mentioned any problem of mental illness in discussions with the Baltimore Beis Din. Nor did they mention that she did not mention any problem of mental illness during the years she claimed to be an agunah because her husband refused to give her a get prior to certain custody issues being resolved.
Thus the Kaminetskys went posek shopping with false information about the husband. Nonetheless they were rejected by most of the poskim they contacted. It was only when they reached out to Rabbi Nota Greenblatt who was willing to pasken solely on the facts he was given - without an independent investigation or even contacting the husband because he believed he was obligated to accept everything that Rav Kaminetsky told him – that they got a heter.
We all know those who have been criticized by gedolim for posek shopping. For demanding a specific psak rather than going to a posek to ask him what the halacha is. We have heard of gedolim criticizing those who make up facts in order to get a desired psak. And yet despite the fact that the Kaminetskys did all of these transgressions - there is a determined silence by our rabbinic leadership.
Furthermore after the firestorm of protest from major poskim around the world against the Kaminetsy-Greenblatt Heter and after asking for and getting a similar rejection of the heter from Rav Dovid Feinstein and even after acknowledging that the heter was no good – nothing was done to get the couple to separate. Rav Shmuel Kaminetsky said it is not his job to tell this couple that he persuaded to commit adultery – to separate. He claims it is Rav Nota Greenblatt’s job! Rav Greenblatt refuses to withdraw his heter – despite the fact that he was informed that the facts he had received were not true. He says he had enough justification for issuing the heter and he isn't concerned with investigating whether the facts are false. Thus these two tzadikim declare themselves to be free of an elementary Torah obligation to protest and separate sinners from their sin - an exemption which doesn't apply to the rest of us.
If a yeshiva bachur was found to be eating meat of a questionable hecher – it is inconceivable that he would not be told by his rosh yeshiva and friends to stop. If an avreich went shopping for a heter to enable him to marry a questionable convert – there is no question that this would be criticized. If any other case where a woman tried for years to receive a Get and then suddenly announced she was remarrying without one – there would be world wide protests and the couple would be ostracized by the community.
Please ask your local rabbi – why the perversion of halacha done by Rav Kaminetsky has not generated world-wide protests? Ask him if you decided to act in a similar manner regarding your halachic questions of nida, kashrus or Shabbos – would he also be silent? Better yet ask him if he has any problem if you planned on adopting the Kaminetsky-Greenblatt approach to halacha? What would he say if you told him that from now on you were simply going to pick as halacha the most lenient view or you will make up facts to convince a posek to give you a heter – because that is what the Kaminetsky’s did? Ask him why the Kaminetskys are not being held accountable for perverting halacha and causing adultery and possible mamzerim. Ask him why no gedolim are protesting a blatant and well publicized transgression? Ask him if preserving Rav Kaminetsky's reputation is more important to Yiddishkeit than G-d's Torah?
======================Important comment by Joe Orlow===============
======================Important comment by Joe Orlow===============
Wednesday, November 29, 2023
Moshe objects to including ben sorrer in the Torah
Zohar (3: 197b) R. Abba here broke off to say: ‘I find rather surprising the words of the Scripture, “If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son... then shall his father and his mother lay hold of him”, etc. (Deut. XXI, 19), concerning which we have learnt that when God told Moses to write this, Moses said: Sovereign of the Universe, omit this; is there any father that would do so to his son? Now Moses saw in wisdom what God would later do to Israel, and therefore he said, Omit this. God, however, said to him, Write and receive thy reward; though thou knowest I know more; what thou seest I will attend to; examine the Scripture and thou wilt find. God then nodded to Yofiel, the teacher of the Law, who said to Moses, I will expound this verse: “When a man shall have”: this is the Holy One, blessed be He, who is called “a man of war”. “A son”: this is Israel. “Stubborn and rebellious”, as it is written, “For Israel hath behaved himself stubbornly like a stubborn heifer” (Hos. IV, 16). “Which will not obey the voice of his father nor the voice of his mother”: these are the Holy One, blessed be He, and the Community of Israel. “Though they chasten him”, as it says, “Yet the Lord testified unto Israel and unto Judah by the hand of every prophet” (2 Kings XVII, 13). “Then shall his father and mother take hold of him”, with one accord, “and bring him out unto the elders of his city and unto the gate of his place”: “the elders of his city” are the ancient and primeval Days.
This 10-month old is among the children still held captive or missing in Gaza
At 10-months-old, Kfir Bibas has now spent more than a fifth of his young life in captivity, his doe-eyed face and bright red hair a vivid symbol of the pain and suffering endured by Israel’s hostage families.
More than 50 days since his abduction by Hamas militants from their home in southern Israel, Kfir’s family say they are no closer to knowing whether he is safe – or even alive.
Tuesday, November 28, 2023
Yad Moshe Hebrew
I was just informed that some stores are sold out in America
Im HaSefer sill has copies as does Shanky in Jerusalem
After Chanukah I will be reprinting again
the English version is available on Amazon
The Virulent Antisemite Who Influenced Henry Ford and Woodrow Wilson, and Brought the Worst Anti-Jewish Document to the US
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/11/26/boris-brasol-protocols-of-zion-00128223
Brasol remains a shadowy and little-known figure, his life cloaked in intrigue. He was a lawyer, a Lausanne University-trained criminologist, and a literary critic who penned books on Oscar Wilde and Fyodor Dostoevsky and who founded the Pushkin Society. But his greatest passion seemed to be Jew-baiting. He was the first to bring The Protocols of the Elders of Zion to widespread attention in the United States, and he influenced Henry Ford’s prolonged assault on the Jewish people through his Dearborn Independent newspaper. Among the 20th century’s most notorious antisemites, few played a greater role than Brasol in unleashing the conspiracy theories and myths that have plagued Jews for generations.
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