In describing actions causing defects in children are Chazal describing medical facts or rabbinical curses?

I just came across and interesting article in 'Asia vol 73-74 pp 139-144 (  סכנתא או איסורא בהלכות תשמיש) by Rav Yehuda Hertzl Henkin regarding the nature of the statements of Chazal. We have discussed extensively the issue of causality ascribed by rabbis to events such as the Holocaust. There is a general obligation to try and search for the causes of misfortune in order to do teshuva and avoid wrong doing. There remains the question as to whether these causal descriptions of historical events are accurate or whether they are primarily motivational

Rav Henkin introduces a new dimension in this article. When Chazal say that if you do X then Y will happen - are they describing reality? What if the consequences they describe don't happen - does that mean that they were wrong or does it simply mean that nature has changed? Or perhaps all they mean  is that the consequences are more likely to happen if you do X but the change is only an increase in the likelihood - not that they will certainly happen.

The gemora being analyzed is Nedarim (20a-b) which is the basic text dealing with what is permitted in sexual relations.

Nedarim (20b): R Yochanon said, The above view [that talking, kissing or looking at her genitals or having unnatural sex produces defects in the children] is the view of Rabbi Yochanon ben Dehabai. However the Sages have said that the halacha is not in accord with his view but rather the halacha is that all that a man wishes to do with his wife he can do. This is comparable to meat which comes from the butcher. If he wants he can eat it salted, roasted, boiled or baked. And similarly regarding fish that comes from the fisherman. Ameimar asked, And who are the angels [that told him this]. They are rabbis. Because if in fact actual angels told him that the actions produced severe defects in children then why isn't the halacha in agreement with him? After all the angels are very knowledgeable about the nature of embryos! But why are these rabbis referred to as angels? Because they are as distinguished [by wearing white garments and tzitzis – Shabbos 25b] as angels.

Rav Henkin notes that some of the authorites dealing with appropriate behavior state that certain behavior is prohibited because of lack of modesty or the prohibition not to do disgusting things or even that one must love his fellow human being. Thus they clearly hold that these are either Torah or Rabbinic prohibitions. On the other hand there are a number of gemoras which say that inappropriate behavior causes severe defects in the child - such as epilepsy, blindness, deafness, mutism as well as spiritual defects such as an overwhelming yetzer harah.  These latter authorities are describing biological or medical dangers. The problem is how do we understand these statements when in fact to the best of our knowledge these behaviors don't produce the stated consequences? Is there an argument in medical reality?

 The gemora above notes the if these statements came from actual angels who really know what goes on - then they could be accepted. But since the source is a group of rabbis who apparently don't have special knowledge of the subject - Chazal reject their view.

If these "angels" don't have special knowledge then on what basis are they making their claims? Is it simply to scare people into behaving - even though they know the claims are not true? Perhaps it was the common understanding of the doctors of those times - even though they were mistaken.

Rav Henkin seems to suggest that the rabbis were well aware that they didn't have a medical basis for their claims. He suggests that these rabbis wanted to curse people who acted inappropriately and say that people deserved this to happen - not that it was going to happen. It seems that Chazal rejected this minority proposal and said that a person shouldn't do these things because of piety, modesty, respect of others or not to be disgusting.

והיה ראוי לפרש שר' יוחנן בן דהבאי איסורא קאמר ולא סכנתא, וחז"ל הם שאסרו לעשות מעשים אלה והם אמרו על דרך הקללה שראוי שייענשו על ידי הולדת בנים בעלי מומים. ולא שבאמת נולדים כן ושלא ככל הנ"ל. כלומר שאינו ענין טבעי כי אז מלאכי השרת בקיאים בטבע יותר ממנו, אלא הוא עניין גזירת ואיסור חכמים. וניחא שלא נחלקו במציאות שר"י בן דהבאי סובר שדברים אלה גורמים למומים ורבי יוחנן סובר שאינם גורמים למומים.

Would appreciate anybody letting me know if they have seen a similar explanation

Former principal accused of abusing students - mentally unfit for extradition - released from house arrest in Israel

9 News Australia   A Jerusalem judge has ruled former principal of Adass Israel School Malka Leifer is mentally unfit to be extradited back to Australia to face 74 child sex charges, instead lifting her house arrest and allowing her to stay in the country.

Leifer is wanted by Victorian police for charges of indecent assault and rape allegedly involving girls at the Elsternwick school, after accusations were first raised in 2008.

Jerusalem District Court judge Amnon Cohen ruled yesterday that Leifer would receive outpatient treatment in Jerusalem after a report from the district psychiatrist found she was not mentally fit to face an extradition trial.

A Jerusalem judge has ruled former principal of Adass Israel School Malka Leifer is mentally unfit to be extradited back to Australia to face 74 child sex charges, instead lifting her house arrest and allowing her to stay in the country.

Leifer is wanted by Victorian police for charges of indecent assault and rape allegedly involving girls at the Elsternwick school, after accusations were first raised in 2008.

Jerusalem District Court judge Amnon Cohen ruled yesterday that Leifer would receive outpatient treatment in Jerusalem after a report from the district psychiatrist found she was not mentally fit to face an extradition trial.

Leifer's treatment in a Jerusalem clinic would begin next week and would last initially for six months.

She would receive up to five treatments during that time until a committee would assess whether she is fit to stand trial.

The court ruled this process could go on for up to 10 years. If the committee continually finds she is unfit to stand trial she may evade her extradition trial indefinitely.

Jewish Community Watch representative Shana Aaronson said she was shocked by the judge's ruling.

"Disappointed isn't really a strong enough word - for the victims in Australia this has dragged on and on for them and it's horrible," she said.

Aaronson was also worried Leifer may reoffend in Israel, given she would no longer be under house arrest.

"The thought they will put a predator right back into the community is insane," she said

The move has also sparked outrage with officials. The Ambassador of Australia to Israel Dave Sharma told the ABC they would persist with the process.

“We are determined to be patient and persevere to this end with the view to seeing her extradited,” Mr Sharma said.

One of the alleged victims told the ABC she was horrified by the outcome.

“How can it be that she is not fit enough to stand trial but she only has to go to the psychologist once a month,” she queried.

“It’s mindboggling. I’ve lost all hope that she will face justice.”[...]

Trump’s personal, racially tinged attacks on federal judge alarm legal experts

update: Wall Street Journal

Donald Trump on Thursday escalated his attacks on the federal judge presiding over civil fraud lawsuits against Trump University, amid criticism from legal observers who say the presumptive GOP presidential nominee’s comments are an unusual affront on an independent judiciary.

In an interview, Mr. Trump said U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel had “an absolute conflict” in presiding over the litigation given that he was “of Mexican heritage” and a member of a Latino lawyers’ association. Mr. Trump said the background of the judge, who was born in Indiana to Mexican immigrants, was relevant because of his campaign stance against illegal immigration and his pledge to seal the southern U.S. border. “I’m building a wall. It’s an inherent conflict of interest,” Mr. Trump said.

The New York businessman also alleged the judge was a former colleague and friend of one of the Trump University plaintiffs’ lawyers. The judge and the lawyer once worked together as federal prosecutors, but the lawyer, Jason Forge, in an interview said he had never seen the judge socially.

“Neither Judge Curiel’s ethnicity nor the fact that we crossed paths as prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney’s Office well over a decade ago is to blame” for Mr. Trump’s actions, said Mr. Forge, who is with the law firm Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP.[...]

For judges, being criticized for rulings comes with the territory, but court watchers say it is a degree far different when the critic could win the nation’s highest office, is involved in a pending case and references the judge's ethnicity.

University of Pennsylvania law professor Stephen Burbank said it was “absolute nonsense” that the judge shouldn’t be able to preside over the case because of his ethnicity.

“If this continues, I would hope that some prominent federal judges would set Mr. Trump straight on what’s appropriate and what’s not in our democracy,” Mr. Burbank said.

Ronald Rotunda, a professor at Chapman University School of Law in Orange, Calif., noted that whatever Mr. Trump’s grievances, his lawyers haven’t filed any motion asking for the case to be reassigned to a different judge. If Mr. Trump has a problem with the judge, “that’s the legitimate way” to register a complaint, he said.[...]

The GOP candidate’s comments follow a San Diego speech last week in which he called the judge “a hater of Donald Trump” and “a total disgrace,” while referencing the judge’s ethnicity.[...]

Legal experts agreed that defendants have the First Amendment freedom to express opinions about a judge hearing their case—as long as they aren’t disruptive in the courtroom.

“It is a prized American privilege to speak one’s mind, although not always with perfect good taste, on all public institutions,” Justice Hugo Black wrote in a 1941 Supreme Court decision that threw out contempt convictions of a newspaper publisher and a labor leader for speaking out on pending litigation.[...]



Washington Post

Donald Trump’s highly personal, racially tinged attacks on a federal judge overseeing a pair of lawsuits against him have set off a wave of alarm among legal experts, who worry that the ­Republican presidential candidate’s vendetta signals a remarkable disregard for judicial independence.

That attitude, many argue, could carry constitutional implications if Trump becomes president.

U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who is handling two class-action lawsuits against Trump University in San Diego, has emerged as a central target for Trump and his supporters in recent weeks. The enmity only escalated after Curiel ordered the release of embarrassing internal documents detailing predatory marketing practices at the for-profit educational venture; that case is set to go to trial after the November election.

“I have a judge who is a hater of Donald Trump, a hater. He’s a hater,” Trump said at a campaign rally in San Diego, adding that he believed the Indiana-born judge was “Mexican.”

He also suggested taking action against the judge after the election: “They ought to look into Judge Curiel, because what Judge Curiel is doing is a total disgrace. Okay? But we will come back in November. Wouldn’t that be wild if I am president and come back and do a civil case? Where everybody likes it. Okay. This is called life, folks.”

The courtroom proceedings come with high stakes for Trump, whose likely tough ­general-election fight against Hillary Clinton will leave him open to intense scrutiny of his character, business practices and temperament. Clinton said Wednesday that the Trump University allegations are “just more evidence that Donald Trump himself is a fraud.”

Trump’s strikingly personal attacks on Curiel are highly unusual and have prompted questions about how he would react to adverse judicial decisions should he become president. Trump’s remarks also stand out because he has a personal financial stake in the case. [...]

One of Trump’s earlier jeremiads came in February, when he told Fox News that Curiel was biased against him because of his controversial immigration comments and proposals, including his promises to build a giant wall on the U.S.-Mexico border and deport 11 million illegal immigrants.

“I think it has to do with perhaps the fact that I’m very, very strong on the border,” Trump said then. “Now, he is Hispanic, I believe. He is a very hostile judge to me.”[...]

As part of the ongoing class-action lawsuit against Trump University that he is overseeing, Curiel ordered the release of internal documents that showed Trump played a key role in the marketing for the business and how staff members were guided to push customers to purchase expensive follow-ups costing up to $35,000 after taking free introductory courses.

The order came in response to a request by The Washington Post, which argued that Trump’s presidential bid made the documents a matter of public interest. In the order, Curiel said that Trump had “placed the integrity of these court proceedings at issue.”

Bamidbar - Shavuot 76 - Unconditional Teaching by Allan Katz

Guest Post by Allan Katz

After having counted the tribes, The Torah lists the Priests= Kohanim and Levites. They would devote themselves to spirituality and the service of God in the Tabernacle. The Torah introduces us to the descendants and children of Moses and Aaron – אלה תולדות אהרן ומשה these are the offspring of Moses and Aaron ……. And then begins to list only the sons of Aaron. The Talmud – Sanhedrin asks why does the Torah list only the sons of Aaron and call them the offspring – תולדות of Moses as well. The Talmud says that if someone teaches someone else's children Torah, it as if he bore them. Moses taught Aaron's son's Torah and became their spiritual father. The implication for teachers is that is that they must treat pupils and students as if they were their own children. The litmus test is that a student must see in the teacher a caring father and that the teacher's acceptance, respect, concern and love for the child must be unconditional and does not depend on what the child does – learn well or behave , but on who he is.

The question is why ' unconditional teaching ', the title of an  article by A. Kohn, is so important for the teaching of Torah. The teaching of Torah should focus on the whole child – not only his external behavior and academics. It should focus on his thoughts, motives, underlying values, his emotional and spiritual side and informal learning = learning from all people etc. We want kids to feel self-directed, internalize their learning, develop a love for learning, give expression to their personalities, individual thinking, learning and values through communication, doing good deeds and mitzvoth and teaching others. When kids feel that they are valued conditionally, and feel more or less loved and accepted depending how they perform or behave, acceptance is never a sure thing. Carl Rogers explains that children will be able to accept themselves as fundamentally valuable and capable, is to the extent which they have been accepted unconditionally by others. They need to see themselves as basically good people in order to repent and do Teshuva, be accepting of others and do good to them. Children, whose parental/teacher love and acceptance was conditional , based on what they do and not by who they are, have a lower perception of their overall worth, come to disown parts of them that are not valued , regard themselves as worthy only when they behave in certain ways and accept themselves and others with strings attached. In extreme cases they will create a ' false self ' in order to be the person their parents will love.

When it comes to academics, acceptance is based on performance. We use competition to ' rank kids' against each other and try to remedy the situation by giving each kid a ' chance of being number one '.We motivate kids to learn by using grades, honor rolls, praise etc. So the focus is on achievement and the message kids get is only those who do well count. We focus on helping kids think on how they are learning instead of focusing on what they are learning so they can connect to and internalize the learning. Kids, who feel valued irrespective of their achievements, accomplish quite a lot and develop a healthy self-confidence in themselves and a belief that it is safe to take risks and try new things. Every child should be able to find his place in the Beit Hamidrash, connect to the Torah and feel valuable in the eyes of the teacher.

When it comes to behavior, acceptance is based on a child being compliant and obedient. Kids are forced into time-out, detentions and suspensions or even corporal punishment or seduced by rewards in the hope that they will be taught a lesson, to behave better and be more compliant. Kids experience these consequences and ' doing to ' approaches rather differently - that acceptance is conditional, teachers are unfair, and mistake was being caught and become alienated from the teacher and learning in general. Instead of helping kids do Teshuva, and reflect on the consequences of their actions and feel sorry for others, they now feel sorry for themselves. When we focus on the whole child and not just on the behavior, we take into account feelings, motives, values, underlying problems, lagging skills etc. We can then echo the CPS, collaborative problem solving moto that 'children do well if they can and not children do well if they want to ' and try and deal with the underlying problems that are giving fuel to the child's behavior and solve the problem – working with the child in a collaborative way.

Marilyn Watson in her book "Learning to Trust" explains that a teacher can make it clear to students that certain actions are unacceptable while still providing a deep kind of reassurance that she still cares about them and is not going to punish or desert them even if they do something very bad. This posture allows their best motives to surface and give them space and support them in the process of reflecting and autonomously engaging in the moral act of restitution - Teshuva. If we want students to trust that we care for them, then we need to display our affection without demanding that they behave or perform in certain ways in return. It is not that we don't want or expect certain behaviors – we do, but our concern and affection does not depend on it. '

A relationship depends also on being interested in hearing their opinions and perspectives of how things could be done differently and countless gestures that let them know we are glad to see them. The Chazon Ish is quoted as saying – what kids need more than love is respect. For kids, how much the teacher cares is far more important than how much he knows.

Kohn asks teachers... Imagine that your students are invited to respond to a questionnaire several years after leaving school. They are asked to indicate whether they agree or disagree – how strongly – with statements such as : " Even when I was not proud of how I acted , even when I didn't do the homework, even when I got low test scores or didn't seem interested in what was being taught , I knew that – insert your name here – still cared about me." How would you like your students to answer that sort of question? How do you think they will answer it?

With Shavuot approaching, we reflect on ' receiving the Torah ' and passing it on to future generations. We should remind ourselves that unconditional love, acceptance and respect will help us focus on the whole child and without judgment help them be more focused on what they are doing and learning and on not on ' how well ' they are doing, so that they can connect to the Torah and internalize its teachings..

'Refuser' husband located after 10 years, finally gives divorce

Arutz 7     The story began some ten years ago, when a man and woman, parents of four children, decided that their marriage was over. They succeeded in reaching a civil court agreement on guardianship of the children and property division, but the actual get (divorce papers) never materialized. The woman finally turned to the Rabbinical Court in the hope that it could facilitate the get.

However, the husband maintained that he still had some outstanding monetary claims, and that only the civil court could adjudicate them. "Regarding financial issues," explained Rabbi Eliyahu Maimon, head of the Rabbinical Court's Division for Agunot (literally, chained women), to the Kipa website, "there was nothing we could do to advance the process."

But the court could, and did, inform the husband that it was obligating him to give the get even before the monetary issues were finalized. The court made it clear that if he did not do so, sanctions would be placed upon him. The husband wasted no time, and promptly disappeared.

Specifically, he left his hometown and did not accept mail or phone calls. He also, as was learned only recently, assumed a new name and lived in a non-registered, one-room apartment in Givat Ze'ev, north of Jerusalem. His family helped him remain incognito, and in fact, neither the woman nor the courts were able to locate him. [...]

t happened a week ago. The investigator discovered that the man was living in Givat Ze'ev, working as a photographer under a new name. He stayed away from public transportation and attempted not to be seen. Two nights ago, Rabbi Maimon recounts, "we followed him as he rode his electric bicycle home. There he was placed under arrest, sat in jail for 24 hours – and this morning he gave the get."

Rabbi Maimon expressed his satisfaction that the woman's ten-year nightmare was ended, but said, "It's too bad it didn't happen earlier. We arrest some 30-50 men each year for this purpose, and 95% of them give a get within a day of being arrested. In this case, the man gained nothing over these ten years, other than having to live underground for all that time. We would like to make it clear to everyone: A man who refuses to give a get – there is no point in hiding."

Rabbinical Court sources reported at the end of 2014 that there were 180 cases of '"chained" women whose husbands refuse to give them divorces – and 190 cases of men in a parallel situation. 

Clinton’s Fibs, and Her Opponents’ Double Whoppers

NY Times  by Thomas L. Friedman

Your Honor, I rise this week in defense of Hillary Clinton.

I see from polls that Hillary scores very low on “trustworthy” questions. Well, let’s talk about truth in politics. All politicians shade the truth at times. Some do it more than others. Indeed, when Donald Trump tells the truth, it should be labeled “Breaking News — Trump tells truth without immediately contradicting himself. We’re going live to the scene right now.”

Here is what is relevant: Lying is serious business. But Hillary’s fibs or lack of candor are all about bad judgments she made on issues that will not impact the future of either my family or my country. Private email servers? Cattle futures? Goldman Sachs lectures? All really stupid, but my kids will not be harmed by those poor calls. Debate where she came out on Iraq and Libya, if you will, but those were considered judgment calls, and if you disagree don’t vote for her.

But while Hillary’s struggles with the whole truth on certain issues have garnered huge attention, driving up her negatives, Trump and Bernie Sanders have been getting away with some full Burger King Double Whoppers that will come crashing down on the whole country if either gets the chance to do what he says.

Trump told a biker rally in Washington on Sunday: “When you think of the great General Patton and all our generals, they are spinning in their graves when they watch we can’t beat ISIS. … We are going to knock the hell out of them.” Then, for good measure, he repeated his longstanding call to build a wall along the Mexican border, and when he asked who would pay for it, the crowd shouted in unison: “Mexico!” Trump added, “Not even a doubt.”

Really, not even a doubt? Why hasn’t President Obama been a “real man” and just carpet-bombed ISIS off the face of the earth? Answer: 1.) ISIS is embedded in urban areas, among Iraqi and Syrian civilians, so we can’t carpet-bomb the terrorists without killing all the civilians around them. 2.) If Obama sent the 82nd Airborne into Mosul and wiped out ISIS, after horrific door-to-door fighting, the morning after the battle we would own Mosul, because there is no agreement among Sunni tribes there, let alone the Kurds, Shiites and neighboring Turkey, over who should control Mosul post-ISIS. In other words, we’d be stuck governing it. So Obama is trying to squeeze ISIS with one hand while trying to squeeze Iraqis to come together around a post-ISIS order with the other. [...]

All lying in politics is not created equal. I think the ideology Bernie is selling is fanciful, but underlying it is a moral critique of modern capitalism that has merit and deserves to be heard. But Bernie is not being truthful about the costs. What is grating about Hillary is that her prevarications seem so unnecessary and often insult our intelligence. But they are not about existential issues. As for Trump, his lies are industrial size and often contradict each other. But there is no theory behind his lies, except what will advance him, which is why Trump is only scary if he wins. Otherwise, his candidacy will leave no ideas behind. It will just be a reality TV show that got canceled.

This is serious. We’re about to elect all three branches of our government. I wish we had better choices, but given the options, I’d vote for the candidate who is most likely to be a practical unifier and get some things done — and who only tells whoppers about herself, not about my country’s future.

Who Cares That Ivanka Trump Is Jewish?

Haaretz    After writing critically about Donald Trump in recent weeks, a series of Jewish journalists have expressed astonishment at the level of anti-Semitic vitriol directed their way. “I have never received the amount of anti-Semitic hate I currently do each day for the crime of criticizing The Great Trump,” noted conservative commentator Ben Shapiro. Another Trump critic, Bethany Mandel, recently wrote an essay entitled, “My Trump Tweets Earned Me So Many Anti-Semitic Haters That I Bought a Gun.”

Trump’s response to his supporters’ behavior has been coy. Asked on CNN about the torrent of Nazi imagery directed at Julia Ioffe after she profiled his wife Melania, Trump replied, “I don’t have a message to the fans. A woman wrote an article that’s inaccurate.” For her part, Melania conceded that some of her fans “maybe went too far,” but said that Ioffe “provoked them.”

Trump has said that, “Antisemitism has no place our society.” But he’s also retweeted messages from openly anti-Semitic accounts. He’s promised that the “major and overriding theme of my administration” will be “America First,” a 1930s-era slogan associated with the notoriously anti-Semitic Charles Lindbergh. And he’s told a Jewish audience that Jews love to “negotiate deals.”

So how does Trump defend himself against charges that he’s flirting with Jew-hatred? Often, he invokes his daughter Ivanka, who became an Orthodox Jew herself. In a speech to the Republican Jewish Coalition last December, Trump boasted that his daughter doesn’t answer the phone on Saturday. At a debate in March, he declared that, “I have tremendous love for Israel. I happen to have a son-in-law and a daughter that are Jewish, OK? And two grandchildren that are Jewish.” [...]

People buy Trump’s alibi because they assume that leaders who have Jewish family and friends won’t foment anti-Semitism. It’s a reassuring notion. Unfortunately, history proves it to be patently untrue. [...]

In his book, The Captive Mind, Czeslaw Milosz describes an anti-Semitic writer in 1930s Poland who “had many Jewish friends, and the very day he published his racist statements, he would come to these friends…and falling on his knees, would declare his love for them.” Notorious anti-Jewish polemicists of 16th Century Central Europe, Johannes Pfefferkorn and Anton Margaritha, were both Jewish converts to Christianity. Even Hitler himself expressed deep affection toward Eduard Bloch, a Jewish doctor from Vienna who had treated his mother. Calling Bloch a “noble Jew,” Hitler instructed the Gestapo to protect him even as Nazi forces sent other Austrian Jews to their deaths. [...]

For Trump, as for many other leaders throughout history, winking at bigotry is part of a political project. It’s not personal. It’s a technique for achieving power.

Better later than never: Novominsker Rebbe says ok to report abuse to police

update:

Honesty wrote:

Is this the video you intended to post? Where does he speak about going to the police? Wasn't raglayim l'dovor always his position?

------

There is a problem with certain bloggers and "activists" who are more interested in using the abused as a way to fill their emotional needs of bravado. Just think about the crazy mashgiach story where those who came to the police were guaranteed anonymity, but were publicized by "activists" and bloggers.

I responded:

Your objection is solid. It seems clear that the purpose of this speech was to attack bloggers and child abuse is just an excuse for that attack(i.e. defense of Daas Torah and gedolim). 

The person who sent this video to me felt that this was a major change. It can be interpreted that way since he is saying that if there are raglayim ldavar it is permitted to go to the police - and he doesn't say that a rabbi has to decide that fact. However it can also be readily understood as just repeating previous views. 

So the issue comes down to whether a rabbi needs to decide. The position of the Aguda has always been that a rabbi needs to decide. Here he doesn't say rabbi but just say that if there are raglayim ldavar you can go to the police. 

However since his purpose was to primarily to smash bloggers it can also be understood that he is just stating there is a possibility of going to the police - contrary to the lies of the bloggers. But that he still holds that without a psak from a rabbi one can not go to the police. 

His comments are at best disingenuous or he is simply ignorant of facts that he should know about. The senior gadol in America has stated that one does not sacrifice the viability of a yeshiva to  report a molester to the police. Rabbi Belsky's letter in the Kolko case speaks for itself. I personally was told by a rabbi in Baltimore that the best way to deal with molesters is to send them to another community - not to report them. In the Webeman case - there was no condemnation of Weberman by the Aguda.  

In fact what case has the Aguda said to report a molester to the police? Anybody remember the Colmer case? Daas Torah Blog  and Survivors for Justice

There is more to speak on the subject but the Noveminsker's speech is more concerned with defending Daas Torah against the claim of incompetence or evil than it is about protecting children. 

There is in fact a problem of the activity of the activists - but that does not justify the gross rewriting of history and double think expressed in the above video.

p.s. When I asked the head of Torah u'Mesorah about including their protocols for dealing with sexual abuse in my book on abuse - he responded that that was problematic and that I should speak with the organization's lawyer. When I asked what was the problem since it clearly showed that Torah u'Mesora was concerned about properly dealing with the issue. He responded if it is published it will give people the idea that we have an abuse problem. I published it anyway since I had received a copy from someone working at Torah u'Mesorah. 

So while it is true that the chareidi rabbis have spent a lot of time talking about the issue - they have done very little to prevent it or to deal properly with abuse when it has happened. 

Bronx Man Arrested For Manslaughter After Beating Wife’s Attacker To Death

CBS News

A husband has been arrested after police said he beat a man to death who was allegedly trying to rape his wife inside their apartment in the Bronx.

Mamadou Diallo, 61, has been charged with manslaughter, police said.

Just before 9:30 p.m. Monday, police responded to 911 calls at an apartment building on Washington Avenue.

Diallo’s son Abdul said his mother and sister were alone inside their apartment when they heard a knock on the door. When they answered, police said an attacker rushed in and started beating the mom and then pulled off her clothes.

The victim was able to break free and grab a phone to call her Diallo, who was outside the building, police said.

Diallo came rushing inside and met the attacker on the sixth floor hallway, police said. That’s where police said Diallo beat the suspect, who has been identified as 43-year-old Earl Nash.[...]

Diallo was then taken into custody. His son Abdul said he would have done the same thing.

“I think any husband would do the same thing as what he did,” he told CBS2’s Magdalena Doris. “You see your wife being attacked and sexually harassed, you’re going to beat on the person. You are not just going to sit there and let the person leave or whatever. So I don’t think he’s wrong.” [...]

Court reduces sentence for man who killed his rapist

Times of Israel   The Supreme Court on Tuesday reversed the 2013 murder conviction of a man who killed his own rapist, convicting him of manslaughter instead. Yonatan Hilo will serve a 12-year prison sentence, down from his initial 20 years.

In 2010, Hilo killed Yaron Ayalon, after Ayalon repeatedly raped, robbed and blackmailed him over a period of several months.

In December 2014, the Lod District Court — while recognizing Hilo as a rape victim — rejected his self-defense claim on the grounds that he hadn’t reported the assaults to police and that several weeks had elapsed between the last assault and Ayalon’s killing.

But in its response to Hilo’s appeal on Tuesday, the Supreme Court recognized the “ongoing taunting” that Hilo had suffered “over a long period of abuse by the deceased toward the appellant, which included a web of violent incidents, threats of violence including threats on the appellant’s life, financial extortion and sexual abuse, which included two acts of sodomy.”

In their verdict, the judges wrote that this was “one of the cases in which the law falls short of encompassing the full complexity of life and of human suffering.”

Consideration for the distress of an individual had to be balanced against society’s need for justice, the judges wrote. They added that the need to protect the sanctity of life for all, including those who have committed crimes, had to be considered alongside the fear of legitimizing an individual’s authority to mete out justice and revenge.

Hilo’s lawyer, Alon Eisenburg, told Israel Radio that his client should have been completely cleared of any crime. [...]

At 96, Dr. Heimlich Uses His Own Maneuver on Choking Victim

NY Times

Since he invented the Heimlich maneuver, Dr. Henry J. Heimlich had spent decades demonstrating the lifesaving technique on people willing to play the role of a choking victim.

But this week, Dr. Heimlich, 96, said he got to do the real thing.

He used the abdomen-squeezing maneuver on Monday night on an 87-year-old woman who was choking at their senior residence community in Cincinnati, popping a morsel of meat out of her mouth.

“I felt it was just confirmation of what I had been doing throughout my life,” he said in an interview on Friday. [...]

“I made a fist of my right hand — you can do it with either hand, by the way — and put my arms around her,” he said.

He placed the thumb side of his fist just above her belly button and below the chest to compress the air in her lungs. “I did it three times, and it apparently was pretty much done on the first time,” he said. [...]

Additional details regarding the Jerusalem mashgiach accused of abusing relatives

CHANNEL 10 NEWS

כיצד התגלגלה תלונת בנות המשפחה שהותקפו אל חוקרי המשטרה? מה פסק הגאב"ד המפורסם מירושלים לנפגעת ובעלה שבאו להתייעץ? מי חקר את המתלוננות? • המחדל: כיצד דלפו תמונתו ופרטיו של 'המשגיח התוקף' מהמחשב המשטרתי אל קבוצות הוואטס-אפ החרדיות? • הפעילים החרדים שהניעו את החקירה וגורם משטרתי בכיר מספרים

פרטים חדשים על פרשת 'המשגיח התוקף': המשגיח מהישיבה הממוקמת בשכונת בית וגן בירושלים, שנעצר בחשד שתקף באכזריות שלוש נשים מבנות משפחתו, הסגיר את עצמו למשטרה, לאחר שיממה קודם לכן נמלט מביתו.

גורם משטרתי בכיר אישר גם בשיחה עם כתב חרדים 10, כי התלונה כנגד 'המשגיח' הגיעה מאחת בנות המשפחה בה בוצעו המעשים החמורים, לאחר שהתקבל אישור של גאב"ד ידוע, העומד בראש בית דין בירושלים.

הפרשה החלה לאחר שמידע על המעשים החמורים שבוצעו בבנות המשפחה הגיע אל שלושה פעילים חרדים. "פנינו אל גורם משטרתי בכיר וזה הנחה אותנו לשוחח עם האשה ועם בעלה על מנת שיגישו תלונה במשטרה", הם מספרים.

בני הזוג התלבטו ופנו להתייעצות אצל הדיין הבכיר מירושלים. הדיין, שנחשף למעשים המזעזעים, אישר לבני הזוג בכתב ידו, ברמה ההלכתית, להגיש תלונה במשטרה כנגד המשגיח.

עם האישור פנו שלושת הפעילים אל הגורם המשטרתי, וזה תיאם פגישה בינם לבין מפקד מרחב מוריה במשטרה ונציגי פרקליטות מחוז ירושלים.

הגורם הבכיר סיכם עם גורמי החקירה כי החשוד יובא לחקירה במשטרה, בתנאי שיוטל צו איסור פרסום על שמות כל המעורבים בפרשה, שכן על המקרה לא חלה חובת דיווח.

לאחר הסיכום של הגורם הבכיר, נפגשו שלושת הפעילים החרדים עם גורמי החקירה וגוללו את כל הידוע להם על הפרשה.

"עם הגעת התלונה הרשמית, תיאם הגורם המשטרתי הבכיר את הפגישה בין המתלוננות לצוות החקירה, ודאג כי את הבנות יחקרו דווקא שוטרות חרדיות, כדי להקל עליהן", הם מספרים.

הגורם המשטרתי אישר בשיחה עם חרדים 10 את הפרטים.

Rivky Stein Weiss: Why are those websites still up?

The following post has been removed three times by an unknown hacker. Am working on adding another site  Daas Torah

Would appreciate any advice on dealing with this security problem.

I just received the following letter from Rivky Weiss with a request to post it. I have no independent knowledge of the allegations being made and I am simply presenting her claims.

I know everyone has a lot of questions about what happened to us. However we are still fragile and are not ready for public discussions about our marriage at the current moment. However in regards to the website redeemrivky - it was put up by my brother Ezra Stein who lives in Israel. He pressured me to go to the media and he created this website. I have asked him numerous times to take it down but he has refused. He has told me that I need to pay him money to take it down. 

In regards to the go fund me website, I did not receive a dollar from it. My brother Ezra switched everything to his account and took all the money. He now refuses to take down the website. He doesn't seem to care for me or my children. He only saw an opportunity on how to make money off of me when I was in my most vulnerable and weak state . 

When I was being evicted from my place I begged my brother Ezra to release some funds to me so I could find a place. He responded by telling me to go to a shelter with my children. I started looking for shelters but they were all full. Thank G-d, due to the kindness of one of my foster mothers I was able to secure a place for myself and my children. 

I have asked Ezra on numerous occasions to take down the site.  I am now publically asking him to please take down the website and that all the money that was donated should be given back to those who donated. That is simply because this money was given to help me in my time of need. Ezra refused to release the funds to me at that time and refused to give me any of the funds after the entire court process was over as well. Therefore I feel the right thing to do would be to refund the money. 

Bottom line - I have no control over the website or the go fund me account that was made to help me. I have not received any of the funds that were donated. Only my brother has the legal authority to take them down and he has the money that was raised. He needs to take down the website and  to return the money. 

Tel Aviv 'police brutality' claim exposed as false

Arutz 7

Analysis of footage shows Bedouin employee attacked cops first, prompts journalist to apologize for condemning police.

Israeli media raised an uproar after security cameras apparently showed an Arab Israeli supermarket worker in Tel Aviv being hit by eight police officers- but a closer investigation of the footage has debunked the claims of unprovoked police brutality, and even caused some in the media to apologize.

Maysam Abu Alqian, 19, a Bedouin Arab from the Negev town of Hura, was asked by plainclothes Border Police officers on Sunday to see his teudat zehut (ID card) as he stood outside the Super Yuda store in central Tel Aviv where he worked.

According to Alqian, he refused to show his ID until an officer in uniform showed up, and he claims that the plainclothes officers began hitting him for no apparent reason.

But during an internal police investigation of the incident, a close examination of the security camera footage revealed by Walla shows the officers were actually attacked first and responded according to protocol. [...]

An analysis of the footage led at least one leading figure in the media to retract his initial accusations against the police.

Ben-Dror Yemini, a Yedioth Aharonoth columnist, wrote on Facebook on Wednesday: "I was wrong. I'm sorry."

"Immediately after the incident between the Bedouin youth and the officers in central Tel Aviv I published a short post condemning the police. But a check of the video footage frame by frame, which was done by Avi Ashkenazi on the Walla site, reveals that the officers apparently did indeed present documentation, and they were not the ones who started the pushing that led to violence."

"I demand that others respond to the facts. The facts prove that I was wrong," he concluded.

But despite the revelations, the backlash fueled by the initial reports of the incident have led to an outpouring of contributions for the Bedouin teen who refused to show his ID to the officers and proceeded to hit them.

According to reports on Thursday around 1,000 Israelis have raised over 100,000 shekels (over $26,000) for Alqian to pay for his university tuition fees.

Divorce: Division of assets when husband leaves vs wife leaves husband

One of the areas of great relevance to the contemporary religious Jewish community is what happens to financial assets when a couple divorce. While there clearly is an emphasis on equitable division in secular law - the same is not so according to halacha.

According to the accepted halacha the husband owns everything except what the wife brought into the marriage. Therefore split of property and assets and giving the wife alimony and child support - has no basis in halacha. In fact if the wife is given these by a secular court, it is considered theft since she has no right to them.

One of the attempts to change this is a Rema which says that we follow the common custom in division. But does dina d'malchusa constitute the minhag? That is a discussion for another time.

I was recently told of an approach which says that the above is only relevant when the wife either deserts her husband or says he disgusts her and demands a Get. Is it different if the husband deserts the wife and demands a Get from her? [to be continued]

In Switzerland, Muslim schoolchildren who refuse to shake their teacher’s hand may be fined $5,000

Washington Post

In Switzerland, the humble handshake between a teacher and children at the beginning and end of the day — a tradition throughout much of the country — has become an unlikely battleground in a public debate about religious freedom and sexual equality. Now, one Swiss canton has added a financial element to the controversy, warning families of children who refuse to shake hands with their teachers that they would face a fine of up to $5,000.

In April, two students at a school in the town of Therwil, near Basel, had requested an exemption from shaking a teacher's hand. The two teenagers, brothers from a Syrian family, had suggested that shaking a woman's hand went against Islamic teachings. In a compromise, the local school district ruled that the two children would not have to shake any teacher's hand, whether male or female.

After Schweiz am Sonntag newspaper reported about this, however, the agreement with the school district began to come undone. A widespread debate about immigration and integration erupted in the Swiss press, with many arguing that the students' calls for religious freedom was at odds with the Swiss tradition of gender equality. "We cannot accept this in the name of religious freedom," Justice Minister Simonetta Sommaruga said in an interview with Swiss-German broadcaster SRF. "The handshake is part of our culture.”[...]

The regional education authorities in the Basel-Country canton had initially stayed out of the debate, but they released a statement on Wednesday that reversed the school district's decision. The schoolchildren would be required to shake the hand of their teacher, the statement said, or their guardians would be fined.[...]

The situation is the latest controversy over the role of Islam in Swiss society. Muslims are thought to constitute about 5 percent of Switzerland's population, but many Swiss argue that the community has not integrated fully. In 2009, Swiss voters banned the construction of minarets, and last year the canton of Ticino made the wearing of a burqa in public punishable by a $10,000 fine. There have also been other disputes involving education, with some Muslim parents fined for demanding that their daughters be exempt from swimming classes.[...]

Switzerland's Muslim community had largely refused to support the boys' refusal to shake hands, pointing out that it was a Swiss tradition that many Muslims quite happily accept. To "the students and parents I would suggest the following reflection: Can the denial of shaking hands be more important than the Islamic commandment of mutual respect?" Montassar Ben Mrad, president of Federation of Islamic Organizations in Switzerland, had said in the statement.

Eleven states sue Obama administration over bathroom guidance for transgender students

Washington Post

Eleven states and state officials filed a lawsuit Wednesday challenging the Obama administration over federal guidance directing schools to allow transgender students to use restrooms and other facilities that match their gender identities.

The federal lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, states that the guidance “has no basis in law” and could cause “seismic changes in the operations of the nation’s school districts.”

State officials have hinted they might file a legal challenge since the Obama administration released a letter earlier this month from the Justice Department and the Education Department that the federal agencies said was in response to questions from schools around the country.

“There is no room in our schools for discrimination of any kind, including discrimination against transgender students on the basis of their sex,” Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch said in a statement when the letter was released. “This guidance gives administrators, teachers, and parents the tools they need to protect transgender students from peer harassment and to identify and address unjust school policies.” [...]

This lawsuit — which bears the names of nine states as well as a governor and another state’s education department — is the first filed in response to the administration’s letter. Although some politicians, parents, elected officials and school districts embraced the directive, others aggressively argued against it and said the administration was overstepping its authority.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) almost immediately said his state would fight the letter because President Obama is “not a king.” Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general, accused Obama of trying to “bully Texas schools into allowing men to have open access to girls in bathrooms” and vowed a legal fight. [...]

Bnei Brak mashgiach accused of molesting students - has left Israel

kikar haShabbat

משגיח מישיבה חרדית מוכרת נעלם מהארץ לאחר טענות נגדו על פגיעה בבחורים. אחד מהם, מדבר לראשונה בשיחה עם "כיכר השבת": "אמרו לי 'אם המשגיח עושה משהו כנראה שהוא יודע'" (חרדים)

חרדית מוכרת ממרכז הארץ, נמלט מהארץ בימים האחרונים לאחר סדרה של טענות למעשים חמורים כלפי תלמידים במוסד. בשיחה כואבת עם "כיכר השבת", מדבר לראשונה אחד מבוגרי הישיבה, שלטענתו נפגע על ידי אותו משגיח.

י' (שם בדוי), מעלה טענות קשות ביותר נגד המשגיח הנמלט ונגד הישיבה בה למד במשך שנים. לדבריו, המשגיח פגע בו לפני מספר שנים בצורה קשה וחמורה בעת שלמד בישיבה. לטענתו, הוא סיפר על הדברים לחבריו, ואז הופתע לגלות כי ישנם בחורים נוספים שנתקלו במעשים דומים מצד המשגיח המדובר.

י' מספר כי התבייש לפנות לראש הישיבה ולספר לו על המקרה, אולם חבריו ששמעו על מה שעולל לכאורה המשגיח, פנו לראש הישיבה. לדברי י', ראש הישיבה השיב כי "אם המשגיח עושה משהו כנראה שהוא יודע מה לעשות, זה בסדר".

לאחר תגובתו של ראש הישיבה, י' החל לאסוף עדויות נוספות מתלמידים שלכאורה נפגעו מהמשגיח. לדבריו, הגיעו לידיו עדויות מוצקות על עוד שמונה בחורים לכל הפחות, שלמדו יחד עמו בישיבה ונפגעו לטענתם על ידי המשגיח. "חלק ניצלו לאחר שהתנגדו, אחרים נפגעו באופן קשה ביותר" אומר י'.

[...]

Why 'Crooked Hillary' is likely to stick

The Week

Donald Trump has a knack for nicknames. Low-energy Jeb caught something of Jeb's entitled aura. "Little Marco" got at something truly juvenile and naive about Marco Rubio. And "Lyin' Ted" was an effective way of branding Ted Cruz's dishonesty. Lately, Donald's been trying new nicknames for Hillary Clinton, but he seems to like his original "Crooked Hillary" best.

And his first instinct is best. The Clinton Foundation and other associated concerns really are a kind of globalist grift.

Funded by the rich, the foundation allows the Clintons to travel around the world and to network with other high net worth individuals. It even pays the salaries of Clinton friends and other flunkies. And where does the money come from? Bill Clinton would often raise it from people who had direct financial interests at play in the U.S. State Department when Hillary was there. One such deal resulted in a Russian company, Uranium One, obtaining control over one-fifth of the world's uranium production.

As Peter Schweizer's book Clinton Cash details, Hillary's loyalty could be well-bought. Consider the financial interests of Mohammed al-Amoudi, who committed $20 million to the Clinton Foundation in 2007. Al-Amoudi profits from the Mohammed International Development Research and Organization Companies, which could have been harmed by U.S. policy changes in Ethiopia, particularly if the U.S. government scrutinized Ethiopia closely for human rights violations, as required by U.S. rules on foreign aid. Clinton dutifully gave a waiver to Ethiopia during her time as secretary of state. Bill Clinton would praise Ethiopia's leaders as a new guard for the continent, even if their rule included extra-judicial killing and plunder.

There are dozens of other sordid little tales, like that of Claudio Osorio, currently in federal prison for fraud. The Clintons, to whom he donated generously, helped his firm InnoVida obtain a $10 million loan from the Overseas Private Investment Corporation. More evidence of financial corruption may be coming now that Charles Ortel, who uncovered wrongdoing at General Electric, is examining the Clinton Foundation's disclosures. He's already describing their work as "charity fraud."

There's also the matter of Hillary's speaking fees. In just the two years between leaving the Obama administration and launching her bid for the presidency, she made nearly $22 million from speeches. Right after her service to Obama, Hillary Clinton began giving one to two speeches a month at around $225,000 or more per speech. Who wanted to hear Hillary speak? Lots of financial services companies, including Deutsche Bank, UBS, and Fidelity Investments. Goldman Sachs even hired her to speak in South Carolina in June of 2013, and then again in New York and Arizona that October. Her clients included major investors in government projects, like TD Bank, which had major investments in the Keystone Pipeline. [...]

======================================================

How corporate America bought Hillary Clinton for $21M

NY Post

“Follow the money.” That telling phrase, which has come to summarize the Watergate scandal, has been a part of the lexicon since 1976. It’s shorthand for political corruption: At what point do “contributions” become bribes, “constituent services” turn into quid pro quos and “charities” become slush funds?

Ronald Reagan was severely criticized in 1989 when, after he left office, he was paid $2 million for a couple of speeches in Japan. “The founding fathers would have been stunned that an occupant of the highest office in this land turned it into bucks,” sniffed a Columbia professor.

So what would Washington and Jefferson make of Hillary Rodham Clinton? Mandatory financial disclosures released this month show that, in just the two years from April 2013 to March 2015, the former first lady, senator and secretary of state collected $21,667,000 in “speaking fees,” not to mention the cool $5 mil she corralled as an advance for her 2014 flop book, “Hard Choices.”

Throw in the additional $26,630,000 her ex-president husband hoovered up in personal-appearance “honoraria,” and the nation can breathe a collective sigh of relief that the former first couple — who, according to Hillary, were “dead broke” when they left the White House in 2001 with some of the furniture in tow — can finally make ends meet.[...]

As “Clinton Cash,” a new documentary based on Peter Schweizer’s 2015 book, shows in excruciating, irrefutable detail, it’s always “pay to play” with the Clintons, whether personally or via their family racket, the Clinton Foundation (which includes the Clinton Global Initiative). They’ve sucked up vast sums of “contributions” from some of the most unsavory folks on the planet, including Nigerian dictators and Kazakhstani despots.

But it’s their parlaying of “public service” by two career “civil servants” into personal enrichment that’s shameless.

Bill Clinton’s speaking fees skyrocketed just days after Hillary’s nomination as secretary of state in 2009. Corporations, such as TD Bank, that had never paid a dime to hear him speak suddenly bellied up to the bar, waving fistfuls of cash. Coincidentally, TD Bank was the largest investor in the Keystone XL pipeline, which needed approval from the new secretary of state. Hillary dodged and weaved and Obama later nixed it — but the Clintons kept the cash. It makes sense to make friends with the woman who might just be the next president. But what does that say about what the office has become? [...]

Terrorist or pedophile? This start-up says it can out secrets by analyzing faces

Washington Post

An Israeli start-up says it can take one look at a person’s face and realize character traits that are undetectable to the human eye.

Faception said it’s already signed a contract with a homeland security agency to help identify terrorists. The company said its technology also can be used to identify everything from great poker players to extroverts, pedophiles, geniuses and white collar-criminals.

“We understand the human much better than other humans understand each other,” said Faception chief executive Shai Gilboa. “Our personality is determined by our DNA and reflected in our face. It’s a kind of signal.”

Faception has built 15 different classifiers, which Gilboa said evaluate with 80 percent accuracy certain traits. The start-up is pushing forward, seeing tremendous power in a machine’s ability to analyze images.

Yet experts caution there are ethical questions and profound limits to the effectiveness of technology such as this.

“Can I predict that you’re an ax murderer by looking at your face and therefore should I arrest you?” said Pedro Domingos, a professor of computer science at the University of Washington and author of “The Master Algorithm.” “You can see how this would be controversial.” [...]

Faception recently showed off its technology at a poker tournament organized by a start-up that shares investors with Faception. Gilboa said that Faception predicted before the tournament that four players out of the 50 amateurs would be the best. When the dust settled two of those four were among the event’s three finalists. To make its prediction Faception analyzed photos of the 50 players against a Faception database of professional poker players. [...]