Death – definition Brain Death?

Igros Moshe (YD II #146) This that doctors say that the sign of of whether a person is alive or dead is in the brain In other words if according to their evaluation of a person if his brain is not working properly then he is considered that he is dead even though he is still breathing. You discuss this at length and try to refute this claim. You also say that the brain does not mean the brain stem at the top of the spine which you claim is irrelevant to this issue. I don’t understand your point. Since you are referring to the brain stem at the top of the spine in your discussion of the gemora in Chullin while the doctors are referring to the brain in the head. Furthermore the gemora is describing a case of where the brain stem is detatched while the brain itself remains intact and healthy. If in fact the brain decomposes the animal is a treifa. Similarly if the brain dissolves and flows like water. Even though in general the status of treifa is because eventually the brain cover will be perforated, nevertheless the status of treifa occurs for other conditions both the actual brain and the brain stem. Thus it is possible to say like the doctors if the damage prevents the body from functioning properly it means death. Neverthelesss it is certainly true that the brain stopping from working is not what we define as death since as long as there is breathing he is considered alive. It just means that when the brain stops working it will lead to death which is defined as the cessation of breathing. It is possible that since such a person is still alive and that there are known or yet to be discovered medicines that will restore the function of the brain. It is also possible in this case to pray to G-d to cure him. Thus he has the status of a seriously ill person whose life is in danger but he is not considered dead. If he were dead it would be prohibited to pray for him since it is considered a meaningless and worthless prayer. It is also obvious that anyone who killed such a person is considered a murderer and is subject to the death penalty. All this is because there is no mention in the classic sources of the gemora and poskim that the brain status determines whether the person is considered alive. It is not relevant to claim that nature has changed in this issue because even in Talmudic times the brain functioned then as it does now and all of man’s functioning depended on it. Nevertheless it was not considered that the person was considered dead with the cessation of functioning of the brain and so today we don’t either.

Seeing eye dog in shul

Igros Moshe (OC I # 45)  Question Can a blind person who has a seeing eye dog in order to go walking  and he needs to  bring it into the synagogue  when he goes for prayers and to hear kadish and kedusha as well as Torah reading or Megila reading and similar things even though it is disrespectful to bring a dog into shul which is a holy place? From the Yerushalmi, it was permitted to bring one’s personal donkey into shul and it compares this with the permission for a talid chachom to eat and drink and sleep in shul this is agreed by a number of authorities including the Magen Avraham, Tur, Shulchan Aruch and the Vilna Gaon. It is as if the use of a shul outside of Israel is permitted for all people for these and similar activities if needed. For a slight need for a mitzva such as eating seudas shlishis in Shul, even though it is not a great urgency since everyone can  eat at home shul, nevertheless it is a widespread custom to permit it as well as to make a feast for the alyiah of a chasan or bar mitzva even it is not clear that these are mitzvos . Chasidim go even farther and permit things which are not mitzvas such as eating and drinking on a yahrzeit. It would seem clear that it is permissible to make conditional use of a shul in order to eat and drink even though there is no real need even though this seems to be a relatively new custom. Nevertheless in times of great need there is no problem following this view according to everyone. Thus since we see that bringing in a donkey into shul is not considered worse than eating and drinking and sleeping, we should permit the conditional use of our synagogues when needed. There is no question that a dog is not worse than a donkey and there is no greater need than the blind person who otherwise would lose the ability to go to shul the rest of his life. Thus it should be permitted for a blind man to bring his seeing eye dog to shul However it is best if he remain next to the doors as to noy upset the congregation. However it is possible that there is actually no degradation at all to bring an animal except when done for no reason  or into a shul in Israel.  The shul of Israel requires further study while there is no question that it is permitted in shuls out of Israel. . 

The new world order is exactly what it looks like. Are we too frozen with fear to name it?

 https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/feb/17/the-new-world-order-is-exactly-what-it-looks-like-are-we-too-frozen-with-fear-to-name-it

JD Vance’s decision, while in Germany, to meet the far-right AfD leader, Alice Weidel, yet decline a meeting with the chancellor, Olaf Scholz, would have caused more alarm, I feel, if it hadn’t come accompanied by so much other signalling. The vice-president of a nation engaged in tearing down its own institutions lectured the whole of Europe on its project to “destroy democracy”, which is absolutely textbook: he’s describing black as white, openly turning observable reality on its head. It’s unsettling, for sure, but that’s because it’s audacious, not because it’s complicated. It’s the simplest move of statecraft ever – show the world who you are, dare them to call you on it.

What I did not anticipate, when thinking that the whole suite of behaviours, from Nazi saluting to upturning reality, belonged well and truly to the past, was the sense of paralysis that would settle when fascism finally put its fancy dress on.

Hypnosis for Medical cure?

Igros Moshe (YD II #29) Hypnosis is simply a natural phenomenon resulting from the influence on nerves and is not witchcraft. However I know that doctors generally do not utilize it. They do not rely that the person will be in a trance so that he can have an operation. Nevertheless if someone does this there is no reason to object since this is not witchcraft. 

Igros Moshe ( YD III #44) Question Is it permitted to cure through hypnotism? Answer I have discussed this with some people who know a little about this as well as Rav Henkin and we do not consider it as something prohibited since it is not witchcraft but is a natural phenomenon. Some people have the ability to influence people such as those with with weak nerves who don’t know what is happening. However there is a possible concern that the doctor might tell the person to transgress a Torah prohibition This would not be considered an unwitting sin since the person by his consent to be hypnotized brought this about. This would be comparable to a person going to sleep next to breakable items. If he breaks them while sleeping it is not considered an unwitting act. However if the doctor is not suspected of doing this such as a religious doctor or for some other reason, I don’t see that hypnosis is prohibited. Nevertheless it is an act of self degradation which has an aspect of prohibition as we see that someone who eats in the street is disqualified from being a witness. Thus even though it is not prohibited a person should not do it unless it is for medical purposes for which it is permitted to degrade oneself if needed even if there is no danger. .If there is mortal danger that removes prohibitions In cases were there will be no likely degradation it is possible to use.

Trump’s rush for a deal with Putin leaves Ukraine and Europe scrambling

 https://edition.cnn.com/2025/02/18/politics/trump-putin-deal-ukraine-analysis/index.html

Trump wants a deal – perhaps any deal

The war often seems a distraction from what Trump really wants – the chance to sit down with Putin, one of the global strongmen he admires.

Trump is, for instance, only voicing a reality that many US and European officials have shared privately for months: that Ukraine can no longer win the war and eject Russia from all the territory it has seized.

Trump’s subordinates endlessly laud him as the world’s greatest dealmaker. But his efforts so far seem naive.

He’s conceded some of Russia’s top goals, often seems to empathize with the goals of the invasion and has turned on America’s European friends who’ve shared the cost of supporting Ukraine’s war effort. Those are the same allies who Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth says must police any peace alone.

In his most extraordinary move, Trump tried to claim half of Ukraine’s rare earth metals wealth — in a play that exploited an invaded nation’s desperate vulnerability. President Volodymyr Zelensky rejected the “deal.”

Trump’s view of every geopolitical crisis as a real estate deal waiting to be clinched suggests he might embrace an agreement that lets Putin keep all of the land he’s stolen just to stop the killing.

And there’s a big risk he’s being played by Putin. The Russian leader warmed the atmosphere ahead of the Saudi talks by handing Trump victories with the release of several US prisoners, including on Monday with Kalob Byers, 28, who was arrested on drug smuggling charges last week.

US and Russia Begin Peace Talks Without Ukraine

 https://www.newsweek.com/us-russia-begin-peace-talks-without-ukraine-2032465

The U.S. and Russia have begun talks in Saudi Arabia aimed at improving diplomatic ties and negotiating an end to the war in Ukraine.

On Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio sat down with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at the Diriyah Palace in Riyadh, signaling a potential thaw in U.S.-Russia relations after years of tension following Moscow's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and upending years of American foreign policy that has alarmed NATO allies.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told reporters on Monday he would be in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, but that his trip was unrelated to the U.S.-Russia meeting.

"Ukraine knew nothing about this. And Ukraine regards any negotiations about Ukraine without Ukraine as having no results," Zelensky said.

Elon Musk, Ashley St. Clair, and the New Moral Majority

 https://www.thefp.com/p/elon-musk-ashley-st-clair-and-the

There was a time when Musk’s lifestyle might have disqualified him from the political power he wields in the nominally conservative Trump administration (headed by a thrice-wed president). But Musk’s rise to political power despite his nontraditional family life epitomizes the decline of the old Moral Majority, which once set the culture war agenda for the GOP and even for some moderate Blue Dog Democrats.

Trump administration fires thousands for ‘performance’ without evidence, in messy rush

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/02/17/trump-fires-federal-workers-performance/

The Federal Aviation Administration let go hundreds of technicians and engineers just weeks after a midair collision miles from the White House killed 67 people, eliciting promises from Trump officials to improve air safety, workers said in interviews. FEMA, which handles the nation’s natural disasters, is preparing to fire hundreds of probationary employees, according to four people familiar with the situation who, like others interviewed for this report, spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. The agency is already stretched thin responding to fires in California and floods in Kentucky. And the administration terminated scores of employees who work to bolster the nation’s nuclear defense, only to realize its error and start reversing the firings.

“I’d understand a strategic reduction in force if needed,” said one USDA employee, who was fired over the weekend. “But this was a butchering of some of our best. Does the public know this?”

Guest post wanted on topic: "We were very happily married for 20 years - and then she insisted on a divorce - turned the kids against me and left me penniless - I still don't know why."

update Friday: Bshch  published a strong warning from a beis din in Beitar. - against a therapist for allegedly promoting divorce  Have no personal knowledge about this but it was sent to me by a number readers as reflecting the ideas in this post

update Thursday - see The Ort Family tragedy

I would like a guest posts dealing with first person stories of  the commonly expressed lament I hear of husbands describing a happy marriage of many years, good relations with the children and then they woke up one morning with their wife requesting a divorce. The husband typically could not get the wife to explain what happened or why she wanted a divorce. After the request for divorce there are attempts to mediate by rabbis, friends and therapists - but they fail and the wife left - often taking the kids with her.  - often going to secular court without permission of beis din.

None of these mediators are able to get the wife to express to the husband what happened other than that the wives had a profound feeling of unhappiness that had been growing recently and a feeling that life was passing her by. At some point little attempt is made to reconcile and the husband is deliberately kept in the dark by the therapist and wife. Often the initial neutrality of the therapist is replaced by a decided bias in favor of  the wife's side and they form a coalition against the husband. In addition the therapist has no problem providing confidential information about the husband with the wife's mother or friends. Separate therapy sessions become the norm - rather than joint sessions. The sessions with the wife often revolve around how terrible the husband is or at least how incapable he is of truly being a good husband because of flimsily diagnoses of various psychological deficits or syndromes. Sessions with the husband are to prepare him for the fact that he is inadequate and incapable of making his wife happy. These therapy sessions often combined with feedback from "experts" who are good friends or relatives or lawyers - create an irresistible momentum for divorce at all costs including slandering the husband with charges of wife beating or sexually abusing the children.

Often these wives receive "advice" from friends and relatives to the fact that contrary to their feelings - they were very unhappy and their husband was taking advantage of them and clearly did not respect or value her as an equal. These "advisers" claimed that their husband's viewed them as a type of slave or servant providing various services because he viewed her as inherently inferior. The wife learned that what she had viewed as willing sacrifices for the husband's learning or for him to have a solid relationship with the children - were in fact proof that there was no value to her existence except as a facilitator for his needs. At some point the wife started viewing the husband as "the other" and stopped trusting him and refused to confide in him or even share experiences. 

The husband is often very inarticulate in expressing his feelings to his "new born wife". That is because for years they have shared a language and values that were viewed positively by both of them - and now the wife has a different negative understanding. Every time her husband opens his mouth - it just makes the barriers between them more impenetrable. Typically he doesn't realize this and keeps trying harder to push the buttons and say the words that used to work - but he ends up totally frustrated and angry as well as irritating her. The wife takes this additional proof that he is damaged goods. 

If this sounds familiar please submit your own story - with names and identifying statements removed. Also I am not interested in nasty things said about your ex-wife - just the facts. Also interested in those who deny that this pattern exists.

update====Just received the following response  from a prominent frum therapist ====

Rabbi Eidensohn:

Having worked with couples for many years, I have observed many situations, prior to my intervention, during, and after. There is probably no one with enough data to cite statistics.  But the experience I have, plus many of my colleagues does not point to either gender as the chief perpetrator of divorces. Let us establish a few matters that are not negotiable.

1. Humans were meant to marry and be happy A marriage that dissolves is abnormal, and it is tragic.

2. An old saying is that marriage is grand – divorce a hundred grand.

3. The peaceful divorce is possible, but it is a relatively uncommon experience. It is said, “People marry out of love; they divorce out of hate.”

4. Marriage is a gamble. If one does not “win”, it becomes necessary to face loss. No one wants to do that. It is seen as easier to shift the blame to the other. If not just the blame, then the outcome of the division of assets and resources (including the children) becomes ripe for declaring victory.

5. The systems of lawyers for court and toanim for batei din are ripe for exploitation. Cases are often prolonged, and settlements difficult to reach because of these outside sources of interference.

6. The complexities of the interplay of halacha and secular law provide enough fodder to gum up the works. This includes the use of court prior to beis din, the orders of protection that prevent conduct of the family, and the easy manipulation of the courts to provide emergency orders of custody, visitation, etc.

7. There are “professionals” of many persuasions that lend their incompetence and poor judgment to the mix. There are rabbonim, dayanim, toanim, and choson/kallah teachers, as well as “shalom bayis machers” who reach conclusions as per their preferences, independent of the facts. Many are poorly informed. The ignorance that allows one to fall for the tears of the borderline personalities, and the beliefs that men always perpetrate abuse while women are always the victims, the willingness to paint the facts into the foregone conclusions to rationalize them, and the disregard for the midoh of emes are legendary. Mental health professionals of all disciplines have been faulted for the negative roles they sometimes take.

8. Lastly, there are evil men and women out there, who will twist and turn everything they can to “win”. The craving of victory, as noted by the Chofetz Chaim, is the root of machlokes. This does not stop after separation, or even after divorce. With the observation of my colleagues and myself as the context, I hesitate to give any credence to the oft posted comments about all divorces being perpetrated by evil women or by evil men. With systems as they exist, including courts, batei din, public opinion, and media, there are tendencies to make generalizations that are unfounded. Each case needs to be examined on its own merit.

I have worked with true cases of domestic violence, and I have also worked with fabricated ones.  Who is the real victim?  Generalizations help no one.

One issue that was not reported in the recent guest post was the role of social influences. There are groups of women in the frum community, many who meet online, others face-to-face, that advise each other and conspire how to cause their husbands or ex-husbands the most damage, “using the system”. Without restricting free speech, one cannot successfully eliminate these social environments.  I have succeeded in getting some of my clients to abandon these groups, and to seek support from sources that help build them instead of destroying others.
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WSJ asks Kennedy to cast aside ‘antivax hooey’ amid Texas measles outbreak

 https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5149761-wsj-kennedy-antivax-texas-measles-outbreak/?tbref=hp

The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board published an op-ed Monday calling on Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to set aside his anti-vaccine activist positions in light of the nearly 50 measles cases that have been confirmed among mostly unvaccinated children in Texas.

“We are on record as skeptical of RFK Jr.’s nomination. The Senate confirmed him. Now the best-case scenario would be for Mr. Kennedy to internalize that he is no longer an activist outsider who needs to take provocative potshots to get attention,” the Journal’s editorial board wrote.

MAGA Bill Introduced to Make Trump’s Birthday a Federal Holiday

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/maga-bill-introduced-to-make-trumps-birthday-a-federal-holiday/

A Republican congresswoman has called for President Donald Trump’s birthday to become a federal holiday. New York Rep. Claudia Tenney announced the bill to turn Trump’s birthday on June 14th, which falls on Flag Day, into an official holiday in a news release on Friday. “This legislation would permanently codify a new federal holiday called ‘Trump’s Birthday and Flag Day' on June 14 to honor this historic day,” she said.

Four top deputies to Eric Adams have resigned, New York mayor says

 https://edition.cnn.com/2025/02/17/politics/eric-adams-deputies-resign/index.html

“Due to the extraordinary events of the last few weeks and to stay faithful to the oaths we swore to New Yorkers and our families, we have come to the difficult decision to step down from our roles,” Torres-Springer, Williams-Isom and Joshi said in a joint statement.

Torres-Springer, Williams-Isom and Joshi are career public servants and highly regarded in the city’s government circles. They are also responsible for putting much of the mayor’s agenda into place. Their portfolios include some of the city’s biggest agencies, including the public hospital system, the Department of Homeless Services, and the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, to name a few.

GOP lawmakers divided on Musk, seen by some as a liability

 https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5146881-elon-musk-senate-republicans/?tbref=hp

“There’s a lot of concern among my constituents. The concern is, ‘Who is this guy?’ He’s a billionaire, which puts him in a certain category. ‘How does he have the authority if he’s not elected by anybody to do what he’s doing?’” said the senator, who said there are “a lot” of federal workers in their home state.

The senator said Musk’s dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) also created problems for farmers who sell products to provide food assistance around the world.

GOP senators say Musk’s brash online personality has inflamed constituents who are already skeptical of his broad access to federal programs, the Treasury Department’s sensitive federal payment systems and millions of Americans’ personal information.

Medical Experts React to RFK Jr.'s Antidepressant Drug Remarks

 https://www.newsweek.com/rfk-jr-antidepressants-ssris-drugs-maha-2032297

Colin Davidson, a professor of neuropharmacology at the University of Central Lancashire wrote for The Conversation: "RFK Jr. has made several debatable statements related to health, including, for example, on vaccinations. On this occasion, though, concerning antidepressants, there is considerable evidence that coming off of SSRIs can be very difficult. But, for most people, it is unlikely that it would be as difficult as coming off heroin."