Wednesday, April 3, 2024

Among Friends

 https://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2010/01_02/2010_01_19_Hoffman_AmongFriends.htm

If the silence of the ultra-Orthodox rabbinate is meant to keep members of their community in the dark, and shield the authority of the rabbinate from shame, it has been countered by outraged discussion on ultra-Orthodox blogs, whose commenters have been following the money that passed through Tropper's organization—and venting their anger at the ongoing silence from the halachic establishment. One anonymously written blog, The Unorthodox Jew, called on Feinstein to shut down "this house of prostitution." A commenter on the blog called for a letter-writing campaign to "as many Orthodox-affiliated Jews as possible, alerting them to the unworthiness of our so-called 'gedolim'"—a Hebrew term used by ultra-Orthodox Jews to refer to their leaders. "King Lear should be obligatory reading in the ultra-Orthodox world, along with All the King's Men," wrote another person. At another highly critical blog, Daas Torah, a commenter wrote: "The chillul hashem"—insult to God—"of Tropper's scandals is only getting worse with time like a festering untreated cancer."

One of the few religious authorities to speak out publicly on the Tropper case has been Aba Dunner, the executive director of the Conference of European Rabbis, a group that publicly opposed Tropper's incursion onto its turf even before the scandal; last week, Dunner published an op-ed in the Five Towns Jewish Times, a New York-area paper catering to Orthodox readers, in which he accused Eternal Jewish Family of conducting a "bounty hunt" for new Jews, by allegedly paying local rabbis to funnel intermarried couples into its fledgling conversion courts. "Tropper is a fraud," Dunner wrote. "The organization he created is in his image and is therefore a fraud too. The creators of that image are fraudsters and hucksters who are trying desperately to keep the line to Mr. Kaplan's millions open."

We Should Thank Trump for Saying Horrible Things

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/michael-ian-black-we-should-thank-trump-for-saying-horrible-things?ref=home?ref=home

Trump’s diarrhetic dialectics have shrunken the nation’s lofty ideals of presidential races as elevated contests between rival statesmen into a closer approximation to what they actually are—billion-dollar prison yard shankings.

Trump crudely bloodies anybody who looks at him sideways without any regard for the potential consequences, other than blithely offering to pay the legal fees for those who commit political violence in his name.

Biden’s Approach to Israel-Gaza Conflict Angers Both Sides

 https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/bidens-approach-to-israel-gaza-conflict-angers-both-sides-46fa0280?mod=hp_lead_pos1

In a statement Tuesday evening, Biden said the deaths were a tragedy, and called on Israel to make public the findings of its investigation. “Israel has not done enough to protect aid workers trying to deliver desperately needed help to civilians,” Biden said. “Incidents like yesterday’s simply should not happen.”

Tuesday, April 2, 2024

Megyn Kelly Confronts Ben Shapiro on Candace Owens Ouster and ‘Free Speech’

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/megyn-kelly-confronts-ben-shapiro-on-candace-owens-ouster-and-free-speech?ref=home

A week after The Daily Wire parted ways with far-right pundit Candace Owens amid her lengthy public feud with the site’s co-founder Ben Shapiro, Megyn Kelly asked Shapiro if the ouster of the MAGA provocateur was proof that his publication is only about free speech “until it comes to Israel.”

Owens’ exit from the right-wing media empire came after months of increasing tension between her and Shapiro over the war in Gaza. The animosity between the two began heating up in November when Shapiro tore into Owens’ “disgraceful” comments on Israel committing “genocide,” prompting her to traffic in antisemitic “dual loyalty” tropes about Shapiro, an Orthodox Jew.

Days before her ouster, Owens liked a social-media post accusing a famous rabbi of being “drunk on Christian blood,” an overt reference to the antisemitic “blood libel” canard—generating even more controversy. She also peddled other antisemitic tropes when she complained about a Jewish “gang” in Hollywood.

The Real Reason Trump Hates ‘Windmills’ QUIXOTIC CRUSADE

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-real-reason-trump-hates-windmills?ref=home?ref=home

His obsession with wind turbines—which he blames for a variety of domestic and foreign policy ills—originates from a dispute he had with the Scottish Parliament over windmills near his golf course outside Aberdeen, Scotland, two decades ago.

Trump has floated many conspiracies and criticisms of “windmills,” most of them completely inane. He also does this even though it typically doesn’t provoke a strong reaction from his MAGA rally crowds—which is a bit unusual.

Vaping May Cause 'Substantial' Heart Failure Risk Increase

 https://www.newsweek.com/vaping-cause-substantial-heart-failure-risk-1885920

While vaping may be a safer alternative to smoking tobacco, previous studies have associated e-cigarette use with an increased risk for lung disease, asthma, damaged blood vessels and heart disease, particularly among those with preexisting health conditions. Now, a large study lead by MedStar Health in Baltimore has shown that e-cigarette users may be 19 percent more likely to develop heart failure compared to those who have never vaped.

TOWARD A SOCIOLOGY OF "PSAK"

 file:///C:/Users/Daniel/Downloads/Toward-a-Sociology.pdf

This article is entitled, "Toward a Sociology of Psak," for several reasons. One is to emphasize its tentative nature. Rather than definitive, it is intended to be suggestive, both in terms of the realm of the subject matter and any and all specific issues which the article raises.

Secondly, it is by no means exhaustive. Rather, it points to a variety of areas and issues which might well belong in a sociology of psak, butclearly there are many others which have not even touched upon. Hopefully, this article wil stimulate further deliberation which will lead tobroader and deeper analyses of the entire area. Ideally, a sociology of psak should include, as a beginning, an analysis of the role of the social in psak,such as the role of social conditions in the determination of halakhah; the social factors which influence who is viewed as the posek, in general and in particular; and an analysis of which segments in the community are likely to seek out psak and from whom

Money purifies Mamzerim

Kiddushin (71a) Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi says: Money purifies mamzerim. Money causes rich mamzerim to become assimilated with Jews of unflawed lineage, since other families marry them despite their flawed lineage. In the future, God will not single them out as mamzerim, as it is stated: “And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver,” which teaches that money, i.e., silver, purifies them. What, then, is the connection to the next part of the verse: “They that shall offer to the Lord offerings in righteousness”? Rabbi Yitzḥak says: The Holy One, Blessed be He, performed an act of righteousness with the Jewish people by establishing that a family that has become assimilated with Jews of unflawed lineage remains assimilated. They are not removed from their tribe despite their flawed lineage.  With regard to the matter itself that was discussed earlier, the lineage of the Jews in various lands,

Koheles (10:19) For laughter bread is made, and wine gladdens life, and money answers all things

The Convictions Of Three Lev Tahor Leaders Of Child Exploitation And Kidnapping

 https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/statement-us-attorney-damian-williams-convictions-three-lev-tahor-leaders-child

“Yoil Weingarten, Yakov Weingarten, and Shmiel Weingarten, leaders of Lev Tahor, an extremist Jewish sect based in Guatemala, have been found guilty of kidnapping a 12-year-old boy and a 14-year-old girl and transporting the 14-year-old girl outside the United States to continue a sexual relationship with her adult male ‘husband.’  With this verdict, all nine Lev Tahor leaders and operatives charged for these heinous crimes have been held accountable.  The defendants’ conduct — which included forced child marriages, physical beatings, and family separations — is unthinkable and has caused irreparable harm to children in their formative years.  Whether in the name of religion or any other belief system, subjecting children to physical, sexual, or emotional abuse will never be tolerated by this Office.”

AG says army must start process to draft Haredim, warns against trying to bypass court

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/ag-says-army-must-start-process-to-draft-haredim-warns-against-trying-to-bypass-court/

In a letter to legal advisers for both ministries, Baharav-Miara and Deputy Attorney General Gil Lemon noted that the state needs to tell the High Court of Justice by the end of the month what steps it is taking to draft the Haredi community.

“Beginning April 1, 2024, there will be no source of authority for a blanket exemption from military conscription for yeshiva students, and the defense establishment must act to draft them into military service in accordance with the law,” wrote Baharav-Miara, in a letter first published by Channel 13 news.

A government resolution from June 2023 instructing the IDF to temporarily not draft Haredi students despite the expiration of a law governing the matter will expire at midnight on Sunday night.

By March 31, the government was supposed to have found a way to comply with a court ruling from 2017, which determined blanket military service exemptions for ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students to be discriminatory and illegal.

Hundreds of ultra-Orthodox block Route 4 in protest against IDF conscription

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/hundreds-of-ultra-orthodox-block-route-4-in-protest-against-idf-conscription/

Hundreds of ultra-Orthodox protesters blocked the Route 4 highway outside the central city of Bnei Brak during a demonstration against conscription to the military on Monday, the date set as a deadline for the Defense Ministry to begin drafting Haredim.

The demonstrators belonged to the extremist Jerusalem Faction, which numbers some 60,000 members and regularly demonstrates against the enlistment of yeshiva students.

Protesters held banners reading “To jail and not the army,” “We will die rather than draft,” “Stalin is here,” and “Russia is here.” Police arrested six demonstrators and forcefully cleared the highway after the demonstrators refused to leave, opening the road to traffic after two hours.

Republicans slam Biden for proclaiming Transgender Day of Visibility on Easter, though it’s yearly observed on March 31

 https://edition.cnn.com/2024/03/30/politics/easter-trans-day-visibility-trump-biden-johnson/index.html?iid=cnn_buildContentRecirc_end_recirc

Elizabeth Alexander, a spokesperson for first lady Dr. Jill Biden, cast the Republican egg complaints as “misleading swirl” and posted on X, “The American Egg Board flyer’s standard non-discrimination language requesting artwork has been used for the last 45 years, across all Dem & Republican Admins.”

Fox News Runs Wild With Two Very Dumb Easter Outrages

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/fox-news-runs-wild-with-two-very-dumb-easter-outrages?ref=home

Just ahead of the Easter weekend, the White House issued nearly a dozen proclamations that included recognition for Cesar Chavez Day, Month of the Military Child, National Child Abuse Prevention Month, and National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month. The administration also proclaimed Sunday to be Transgender Day of Visibility, a day of awareness that was established in 2009 and has been held annually on March 31.

Monday, April 1, 2024

Torah comes from the Children of the Poor

 Nedarim (81a) Be on guard against scabs; take good care to study in company and be heedful not to neglect the children of the poor, for from them Torah goeth forth, as it is written, The water shall flow out of his buckets meaning, from the poor amongst them goeth forth Torah. And why is it not usual for scholars to give birth to sons who are scholars? — Said R. Joseph, That it might not be maintained, The Torah is their legacy. R. Shisha, the son of R. Idi, said: That they should not be arrogant towards the community. Mar Zutra said: Because they act high-handedly against the community. R. Ashi said: Because they call people asses. Rabina said: Because they do not first utter a blessing over the Torah.