Wednesday, January 22, 2020
When Criminal 'Justice' is Truly CriminaL
BS"D
When Criminal 'Justice' is Truly Criminal:
Additional Samples of Systemic Corruption in the Israeli Military Draft and Justice System, Both Moral and Procedural
25 Teves, 5780 °° Jan. 22, '20
By Binyomin Feinberg,
FeinbergBinyomin@gmail.com
~~~~~~~~~~~
To check for updates, on first view of this article, as well as throughout the week, please visit https://saveHischildren.
FeinbergBinyomin@gmail.com
~~~~~~~~~~~
To check for updates, on first view of this article, as well as throughout the week, please visit https://saveHischildren.
or/and see updates for month of Teves '80:
https://docs.google.com/
~~~~~~~~~
ZIVA BAS MAZAL:
After Ziva bas Mazal M., a religious Jewish girl of Ashkelon, hailing from a religious Ethiopian family, submitted her religiosity certification "Tarzhir Dat," it was noted on the document that it was - ostensibly - received late (May 17, '18). (That's not a surprise given the tribulations that the family has been enduring.) A handwritten note on the bottom of document indicated that someone in the Draft Office recommended that Ziva was to be drafted without investigating altogether. It says "Suggested to the Segan to decide TO DRAFT WITHOUT INVESTIGATING" (emphasis in original note).
After Ziva bas Mazal M., a religious Jewish girl of Ashkelon, hailing from a religious Ethiopian family, submitted her religiosity certification "Tarzhir Dat," it was noted on the document that it was - ostensibly - received late (May 17, '18). (That's not a surprise given the tribulations that the family has been enduring.) A handwritten note on the bottom of document indicated that someone in the Draft Office recommended that Ziva was to be drafted without investigating altogether. It says "Suggested to the Segan to decide TO DRAFT WITHOUT INVESTIGATING" (emphasis in original note).
Why
not even engage in investigation, probing what the reason may be? And
remember, we're not talking about minor punitive measures. We are
talking about destroying the life of a girl (a religious one, in this
case), by forcing her into the notoriously exploitive and immoral Army
for about two of the most important years of her life at this juncture,
crucial in determining her future husband, family and life.
More
to the point, her religiosity is not subject to doubt, as made clear by
absence of any reference to a Rayon Dat there, and by virtue of the
blatant absence of any substantial discussion of her religiosity in her
later meeting with Segan-Maitav Avner Lotati. Thus, the issue at stake
is strictly procedural. And, in the backdrop of circumstances specific
to this case, any delay in paperwork would not be a major issue if the
goal was not to draft her by any means possible. She clearly does not
belong in the Army even according to their own legal standards. So why
the zeal to draft
her? And, why the rush to do so without even providing a chance to explain?
One must also question, among other things:
One must also question, among other things:
a) How much of an anomaly was this brutal reaction?
b)
What role, antireligious, anti-Ethiopian and/or racist animus is
playing a role here, in denial of her religious rights, in what
ultimately has proven to be bona fide religious persecution of an
Orthodox Jewish girl by Maitav (the Military Draft Offices) and the
"Justice" System.
c) Why don't we hear about
these injustices in the media, or from ostensibly religious and/or
"rightwing" Knesset Members? The very silence of media and others
enables their unrelenting repetition. Is THAT perhaps the reason we
don't hear fron them? Is it because they're also part of the system of
corruption, and don't feel comfortable rocking the boat, inasmuch as
that itself would jeopardize their own standing in the System.
~~~
LITAL BAS MIRIAM: (Update)
Solitary -- for WHAT??"
Last week we reported on the Monday incarceration of a 26 y/o bas Cohen, Lital Cohen. Since then, she's been held in Military Prison Four. She's
complained about repeatedly being denied basic bodily needs (including
the ability to relieve herself), and was reportedly punished - twice -
as of Monday this week - with solitary confinement (which is
excruciatingly difficult, especially for girls, and especially for
anyone unfamiliar with military experience), for her complaints over
that abusive, even subhuman mistreatment.
The
military prison staff, in both prison Four and Six, are, based on
unrelenting reports of inmates, adept and intent at really breaking
these girls psychologically, and thereby sometimes threatening to push
family members over the edge as well.
We
previously mentioned a credible report of an actual suicide attempt
over a month ago in that same prison four, by Shir N. Do we insinuate
that the prison authorities want suicides? No. They simply are
tormenting these innocent girls till the point that they, in some cases,
may feel compelled to make the attempt. Now just think about how much
pain a girl needs to endure to get to that point. And it's all for
refusal to sacrifice their religious and moral principles. And
simultaneously, Israeli government co-perpetrators of this systemic
injustice are busy grandstanding about antisemitism abroad, and
attending Holocaust memorial photo-ops with world leaders -leaders of
nations which would never perpetrate such overt anti-Jewish religious
persecution against Jewish girls.
#MidnightMitch Trends As McConnell Is Accused of Trying to Cover Up Trump Impeachment Trial 'In the Dark of Night'
https://www.newsweek.com/midnight-mitch-mcconnell-donald-trump-impeachment-trial-1483132
In a statement published on Twitter, Harvard University's
Constitutional Law Scholar Laurence Tribe agreed, saying McConnell's
rules "aren't rules for a real trial at all, much less a fair one.
They're rules for a rigged outcome, with #MidnightMitch making sure that
as much of the so-called trial as possible takes place in the dark of
night."
Tuesday, January 21, 2020
Two ultra-Orthodox young women jump to their deaths in Jerusalem
Suicide note indicates at least one girl was leaving faith and feared disappointing her family.
הרבנית קולדצקי: 'הקושי הנפשי בציבור החרדי, כמו מגיפה'
רוצים לישון כל היום, רוצים להתאבד... מה קרה בדור שלנו?" - כך, במכתב חסר תקדים הנחשף כעת לראשונה, מתארת הרבנית המוכרת, בתו של הגר"ח קנייבסקי, מה קורה "גם בבתים מצוינים
The Constitutional Question at the Heart of Trump's Impeachment
https://time.com/5768470/donald-trump-impeachment-trial-constitution/
In other words, Trump’s lawyers argue, his pressure on Ukraine fell
within the presidency’s foreign policy-making powers, whether he was
doing it to root out corruption, as Trump has claimed, or for political
advantage, as Democrats allege. “Abuse of power, even if proved, is not
an impeachable offense,” Trump’s lawyer Alan Dershowitz, who will be
presenting constitutional arguments at the trial, said Friday on MSNBC.
House Democrats flatly reject this reading of the Constitution.
“Abuse of power was a principal concern of the Framers,” according to a
Democratic staffer working on impeachment, noting that impeachment
articles voted out of the House Judiciary Committee in 1974 against
President Richard Nixon charged him with abuse of power. “Abuse of power
was no vague or weak notion to the Framers. It had a very specific
meaning: the use of official power to obtain an improper personal
benefit, while ignoring or injuring the national interest… The President
does not need to commit a crime for there to be an impeachable
offense.”
But fortunately for Trump, no Congress in our country’s history ever
thought to explicitly outlaw using the power of the presidency to help
win re-election. Starting Tuesday, Senators will have to decide whether,
in the end, that’s all that matters.
Monday, January 20, 2020
Sunday, January 19, 2020
Elderly Long Beach woman at center of legal battle over life support dies
The longtime New York City public school math teacher had signed a
living will in 1999 requesting to be taken off life support if she
became seriously ill. Her oldest son, Edward Lester, 62, of Long Beach,
claimed she had changed her mind and shared a video with the New York
Post before Capetola issued the gag order he claims shows her mouthing
the words, “I want to live.”
Kyle Lester, 58, of Dix Hills, claimed
in court papers that his older brother Edward Lester wanted to keep
their mother alive with a ventilator and feeding tube against her wishes
so he could continue to collect her $5,400 a month in Social Security
and pension payments, an allegation Edward Lester vehemently denied.
Breaking: Arline Lester dies by forced euthanasia LI, NY
Arline Lester dies by forced euthanasia
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Saturday, January 18, 2020
Israel arrests alleged sex abuser Gershon Kranczer 10 years after he fled there
https://forward.com/news/438056/brooklyn-native-and-alleged-sex-abuser-gershon-kranczer-arrested-in-israel/
Israel arrests alleged sex abuser Gershon Kranczer 10 years after he fled there
An American rabbi who fled to Israel ten years ago after being
accused of sexually abusing female relatives was arrested by Israeli
police on Sunday, according to Israel’s Justice Ministry.
Jewish Community Watch, a watchdog organization that tries to combat
child sexual abuse within the Orthodox Jewish community, identified that
man as Rabbi Gershon Kranczer, a former principal of a Brooklyn
yeshiva. An American law enforcement official who has direct knowledge
of this case also independently confirmed Kranczer’s identity to the
Forward.
Friday, January 17, 2020
Lilat, Ziva https://savehischildren.blogspot.com/2020/01/hate-crimes-vs-religious-bas-cohen
BS"D
Hate Crimes Vs. A Religious Bas-Cohen
Update: Jan. 16, '20
By Binyomin Feinberg,
FeinbergBinyomin@gmail.com
~~~~~~~~~~~
To check for updates, on first view of this article, as well as throughout the week, please visit Updates for month of Teves '80:
https://docs.google.com/
~~~~~~~~~
FeinbergBinyomin@gmail.com
~~~~~~~~~~~
To check for updates, on first view of this article, as well as throughout the week, please visit Updates for month of Teves '80:
https://docs.google.com/
~~~~~~~~~
We
reported on a religious young woman, Lital bas Miriam Cohen of Tel
Aviv, 26, incarcerated on Monday for her steadfast refusal to sacrifice
her religious principles and her personal purity by enlisting in the
Israeli Army.
She is now being persecuted in
jail for her fidelity to Torah Law, denied even a sheet to sleep on,
contact with an attorney entering the jail to speak to her and bring her
items from home, and in other ways. They are clearly trying to break
her. They're also apparently seeking to extend her incarceration without
appropriate due process.
Please stay tuned, we hope to post more updates throughout the week.
Please
daven and learn for Lital bas Miriam, intelligently circulate this
information, and protest any "frum" media venues who opt to
intentionally silence this story.
###
UPDATE on Ziva bas Mazal
16 Jan. '20
By Binyomin Feinberg,
FeinbergBinyomin@gmail.com
~~~~
A Follow up on this most recent post:
https://daattorah.blogspot.
We've reported on Ziva bas Mazal in the past (e.g. https://daattorah.blogspot.
https://daattorah.blogspot.
The Army chooses their victims judiciously, and apparently treats them with similarly thoughtful consideration.
° Ziva is currently suffering as a female, who is being persecuted with the overt intent to compel her to violate her personal modesty by enlisting in the notoriously exploitive and immoral Army.
° She is enduring what is nothing less than religious persecution, for her fidelity to the Torah prohibition against enlistment in the Army.
° She's enduring blatant mistreatment that appears more frequently in the cases involving those within the naturally less-advantaged Ethiopian community. (Some elitist, antireligious Ashkenazi bigots consider it their duty to integrate black Jewish girls into the military melting pot.)
° Additionally, the elitists in Maitav evidently feel it imperative that the entire family participate in this social-engineering draft process. Ziva's elderly parents, particularly her acutely infirm father, are being subjected to all of the pain of witnessing this ongoing, illegal charade against their daughter.
More soon BE"H.
Hate Crimes Vs. A Religious Girls In Israeli Military Prison
BS"D
Hate Crimes Vs. A Religious Bas-Cohen
Update: Jan. 16, '20
By Binyomin Feinberg,
FeinbergBinyomin@gmail.com
~~~~~~~~~~~
To check for updates, on first view of this article, as well as throughout the week, please visit Updates for month of Teves '80:
https://docs.google.com/
~~~~~~~~~
FeinbergBinyomin@gmail.com
~~~~~~~~~~~
To check for updates, on first view of this article, as well as throughout the week, please visit Updates for month of Teves '80:
https://docs.google.com/
~~~~~~~~~
We
reported on a religious young woman, Lital bas Miriam Cohen of Tel
Aviv, 26, incarcerated on Monday for her steadfast refusal to sacrifice
her religious principles and her personal purity by enlisting in the
Israeli Army (https://daattorah.
She
is now being persecuted in jail for her fidelity to Torah Law, denied
even a sheet to sleep on, contact with an attorney entering the jail to
speak to her and bring her items from home, and in other ways. They are
clearly trying to break her. They're also apparently seeking to extend
her incarceration without appropriate due process.
Please stay tuned, we hope to post more updates throughout the week.
Please
daven and learn for Lital bas Miriam, intelligently circulate this
information, and protest any "frum" media venues who opt to
intentionally silence this story.
###
UPDATE on Ziva bas Mazal
16 Jan. '20
By Binyomin Feinberg,
FeinbergBinyomin@gmail.com
~~~~
A Follow up on this most recent post:
https://daattorah.blogspot.
We've reported on Ziva bas Mazal in the past (e.g. https://daattorah.blogspot.
https://daattorah.blogspot.
The Army chooses their victims judiciously, and apparently treats them with similarly thoughtful consideration.
° Ziva is currently suffering as a female, who is being persecuted with the overt intent to compel her to violate her personal modesty by enlisting in the notoriously exploitive and immoral Army.
° She is enduring what is nothing less than religious persecution, for her fidelity to the Torah prohibition against enlistment in the Army.
° She's enduring blatant mistreatment that appears more frequently in the cases involving those within the naturally less-advantaged Ethiopian community. (Some elitist, antireligious Ashkenazi bigots consider it their duty to integrate black Jewish girls into the military melting pot.)
° Additionally, the elitists in Maitav evidently feel it imperative that the entire family participate in this social-engineering draft process. Ziva's elderly parents, particularly her acutely infirm father, are being subjected to all of the pain of witnessing this ongoing, illegal charade against their daughter.
More soon BE"H.
Thursday, January 16, 2020
Devin Nunes Now Remembers Talking to Giuliani Associate Lev Parnas After Previously Saying He Couldn't Recall His Name
https://www.newsweek.com/devin-nunes-remembers-talking-lev-parnas-1482480
Speaking with Martha MacCallum on Fox News in the wake of the Parnas
interview, Nunes said the businessman was "someone who doesn't tell the
truth," and brought up his indictment on campaign finance charges.
Reminded
that he previously said he didn't "recall" a phone call with the
Giuliani associate, the GOP representative said: "If you recall, that
was brand new when it came out, when I was on your show. I just didn't
know the name. This name Parnas.
The White House Broke The Law By Freezing Ukraine Aid, Watchdog Says
https://time.com/5766471/watchdog-white-house-illegal-aid-freeze/
Administration officials on Thursday were quick to point out that GAO
is an arm of Congress and the administration is not bound by any of its
findings. A senior administration official on Thursday called GAO’s
decision “a pretty clear overreach as they attempt to insert themselves
into the media’s controversy of the day.”
“We disagree with GAO’s opinion,” OMB Spokesperson
Rachel Semmel said in a statement to TIME. “OMB uses its apportionment
authority to ensure taxpayer dollars are properly spent consistent with
the President’s priorities and with the law.”
But recently released internal government emails, as well as transcripts of closed-door depositions and interviews with TIME,
show that both Pentagon and OMB officials became increasingly concerned
that what they were being asked to do could violate this very law. The
Impoundment Control Act of 1974 requires the executive branch to spend
money as appropriated by Congress.
Under that law, the President “has narrow, limited
authority to withhold appropriations,” GAO General Counsel Thomas
Armstrong said in a statement on Thursday.
The White House budget office told GAO that it
withheld the funds to ensure that they were not spent “in a manner that
could conflict with the President’s foreign policy.” The law does not
permit OMB to withhold funds for policy reasons,” Armstrong concluded.
GAO says Trump administration broke law by withholding Ukraine aid
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/gao-says-trump-admin-broke-law-ukraine
The Government Accountability Office issued a legal
opinion on Thursday saying that President Trump's administration broke
the law by withholding defense aid to Ukraine -- the issue at the heart of the president's impeachment trial.
That
money — $214 million which had been allocated to the Department of
Defense for security assistance — was appropriated by Congress and
therefore the administration did not have the right to hold the money
just back because it disagreed with its allocation, the opinion from the
nonpartisan government watchdog said.
"Faithful execution of the law does not permit the President to
substitute his own policy priorities for those that Congress has enacted
into law," the opinion said. "OMB withheld funds for a policy reason
... not a programmatic delay. Therefore, we conclude that the OMB
violated the ICA [Impoundment Control Act]."
The OMB made clear Thursday, however, that it disagreed with the GAO report.
Lev Parnas Claims Yovanovitch Was Targeted to Get Her Out of Possible Biden Probe, Says Hyde Was 'Drunk the Whole Time
https://www.newsweek.com/lev-parnas-claims-yovanovitch-was-targeted-get-her-out-possible-biden-probe-says-hyde-was-drunk-1482462
Former Rudy Giuliani business associate Lev Parnas told MSNBC'S Rachel
Maddow Wednesday night that former Ukraine Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch
was removed from her position because she was in the way of an
investigation into Joe and Hunter Biden, which was started at the direct
behest of President Donald Trump.
"That was the only motivation," Parnas said. "There was no other motivation."
Helping
Parnas monitor Yovanovitch's movements was Republican Robert Hyde, a
Trump supporter who is currently running for Congress in Connecticut.
Hyde's name was found in text messages to Parnas discussing Yovanovitch.
"I don't even know how to explain [Hyde]," Parnas said. "He's a weird character."
Robert Hyde Says He Was Only 'Playing' in Texts About Surveillance of Marie Yovanovitch
https://www.newsweek.com/robert-hyde-only-playing-texts-about-marie-yovanovitch-surveillance-1482511
GOP
congressional candidate Robert Hyde has denied being involved in
surveillance of former U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, saying he was
"playing" in texts to Lev Parnas released by House Democrats on Tuesday.
The
Connecticut Republican told Eric Bolling on Sinclair TV last night that
messages he sent to Rudy Giuliani's indicted associate discussing
surveillance of Yovanovitch were "just colorful," and said he was a
"little landscaper from f****** Connecticut" when pressed on whether he
had spied on the then-ambassador.
Hyde also denied being a "close associate" of Parnas, claiming he barely knew the businessman.
Documents released on Tuesday
suggested the supporter of President Donald Trump texted Parnas with
supposed notes on Yovanovitch, her whereabouts and what she was doing.
"She's
talked to three people. Her phone is off. Computer is off," one message
from March 2019 read. According to the documents, another pair of
messages said: "Update she will not be moved special security unit
upgraded force on the compound people are already aware of the situation
my contacts are asking what is the next step because they cannot keep
going to check people will start to ask questions.
Exclusive: ‘You Jews Vote for Trump’: 3 Teens Berate Jewish Girl on Subway
https://boropark24.com/exclusive-you-jews-vote-for-trump-3-teens-berate-jewish-girl-on-subway/
Yelling obscenities and anti-Semitic remarks, three youths confronted
a Jewish girl riding on the subway in Manhattan Tuesday afternoon and
threatened to harm her.
To the victim’s shock, transit police refused to file anything more
than a harassment report, despite the repeated references to “you Jews”
in the attackers’ ten-minute-long tirade.
“It made me feel very uncomfortable,” her father told boropark24.com.
“I didn’t go down there to Manhattan to just file a harassment report.”
Republican leader in Delaware ousted after blaming Jews for Trump impeachment
https://www.timesofisrael.com/republican-leader-in-delaware-ousted-after-blaming-jews-for-trump-impeachment/
A Republican Party leader in Delaware was fired after Facebook posts that were criticized as anti-Semitic.
The Sussex County Republican Party voted on Monday to oust its
vice chair, Nelly Jordan, the Dover Post reported. Her Facebook comments
singling out Jews as responsible for the impeachment of US President
Donald Trump came to light on December 31, according to Delaware State
News.
ANOTHER DAY ANOTHER TRUMP LIE Trump Says Migrants Getting Stuck Climbing New Border Wall Is A 'Beautiful Sight'—And Proof It Works
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-border-wall-migrants-stuck-top-cbp-1482253
Speaking to a packed crowd, Trump told supporters that "two days ago,
illegal aliens with drugs on their back were climbing the wall" and
"couldn't get off."
While it is true that three migrants did
recently get arrested after getting stuck trying to climb over the
border wall, that incident unfolded more than a week ago on January 5,
and there is no evidence to suggest that the migrants were carrying
drugs.
Appearing to describe that incident during his rally, Trump said:
"They go to the top, you know, that panel on top is called a 'climb
resister.' It's very slippery and very hot. It's very hot," Trump said.
"And they got stuck on the wall, they couldn't get off the wall. You see
that?"
Trump Says U.S. Troops Stayed in Syria 'Because I Kept the Oil'
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-us-troops-syria-oil-bashar-al-assad-kurds-wisconsin-rally-1482250
"People said to me, 'Why are you staying in Syria,'" Trump said
Tuesday. "Because I kept the oil, which frankly we should have done in
Iraq," he added, to cheers and applause from the audience. The president
has previously criticized his predecessors for not profiting off Iraqi
oil wells.
"So they say, 'Trump's in Syria,' I didn't pull out—I
did pull out," the president continued. "We have the oil, really secure.
We'll see what happens with it."
Trump's Middle East policy has
been erratic, in few places more so than Syria. The president has
repeatedly voiced his desire to bring U.S. troops home and disengage
from another unwinnable, long-running, low-intensity conflict there.
The
president abruptly ordered the withdrawal of U.S. forces from positions
in northeastern Syria near the border with Turkey in October.
Lev Parnas Hits the Airwaves on the Eve of Trump's Impeachment Trial
https://time.com/5766061/lev-parnas-trump-impeachment/
Speaking publicly for the first time since the impeachment inquiry
made him a household name last fall, Ukrainian-American businessman Lev
Parnas alleged in a television interview that the President “knew
exactly what was going on” in the campaign to pressure Ukraine to
investigate Trump’s 2020 rival Joe Biden.
“He was aware of all of my movements,” Parnas told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow. “I wouldn’t do anything without the consent of Rudy Giuliani or the president.”
Wednesday, January 15, 2020
Tamar Epstein: Is Rabbi Hersehl Schachter making a farce of his own halachic positions?
Guest Post
Epstein-Flesicher, a coerced get, (and also kiddushai ta'us?): Is Rabbi Hershel Schachter making a farce of his own halachic positions?
Epstein-Flesicher, a coerced get, (and also kiddushai ta'us?): Is Rabbi Hershel Schachter making a farce of his own halachic positions?
An earlier post explained how Rabbi Hershel Schachter’s actions in the Epstein-Friedman case are contrary to halacha. Daas Torah Blog
But Rabbi Schachter's actions in the case are also completely contrary to his own publicly stated halachic positions on the matters involved in the case. Rabbi Schachter encouraged public pressure and demonstrations against Friedman even though the Baltimore Beis Din to which the parties brought the matter and which held hearings with the participation of both parties refused Epstein's demands for a get. Rabbi Schachter and ORA, of which he serves as posek, insisted on demonstrating against Friedman despite the Baltimore Beis Din's statement that such demonstrations were wrong. For good measure, they also demonstrated against the Washington Beis Din for refusing to intervene against Friedman. Rabbi Schachter even went so far as to call for violence against Friedman to obtain a get. But a get obtained through public presssure or coercion not sanctioned by the beis din with jurisdiciton would be inavlid.
Eventually Rabbi Schachter and his accomplices in the matter signed a purported "seruv" against Friedman.
On Tisha Ba'av in 2012, Friedman was attacked and beaten, in an attempted kidnapping as he dropped off the child at Epstein's house, an attack that endangered the lives of both Friedman and the young child. One of Rabbi Schachter's co-signatories on the “seruv” was Rabbi Mordechai Wolmark, who was alleged by the FBI to lead a so-called beis din together with Rabbi Mendel Epstein, that was actually a criminal gang which, amongst other criminal activities, attempted a kidnapping and beating of a non-existent man in order to obtain a get with regard to a non-existent marriage. Rabbi Wolmark and several co-conspirators pled guilty. Other co-conspirators, including Rabbi Epstein, were found guilty at a trial at which the attack on Friedman was alleged to be part of the Epstein-Wolmark gang’s criminal conspiracy. At least two of Rabbi Schachter's other co- signatories were alleged by the FBI to be part of the Epstein-Wolmark gang's criminal conspiracy, but, along with Rabbi Schachter, have not yet been charged.
Although Epstein consistently engaged in outrageous behavior, including abducting the parties' child, violating the orders of the Baltimore Beis Din in order to have her abduction of the child treated as a fait accompli in civil court, getting most of the child's time with Friedman rendered moot because he is shomer shabbos, and filing a contempt motion seeking to limit the child's time with Friedman to "supervised visitation," Rabbi Schachter and ORA did not just argue that Epstein should be given a get. Instead, ORA specifically argued that Epstein had acted completely properly throughout the entire matter. Furthermore, Rabbi Schachter himself appeared with Tamar at an ORA panel, at which Tamar was hailed as a heroine.
Rabbi Schachter's actions in the Epstein-Friedman case so directly contradict his earlier statement on the halachic aspects of these matters that it almost appears as if his earlier statement was specifically intended to protest against the very actions in which Rabbi Schachter himself would later engage.
"What is important to keep in mind is that whoever is chalashing for [wants]... a get must consult with rabbonim... with respect to issues of pressuring the other to give the get. You have to go to batai dinim and everything has to be done with a legitimate beis din. Sometimes people will go to criminals. Unfortunately there are criminals in every field. There are rabbis that are criminals also. Unfortunately, the husband or the wife will go to a Beis Din that has an awful reputation, and they will recommend things that are against halacha. You have to go to a reputable Beis Din and the Beis Din should give proper advice....
The Batai Dinim have a special obligation, the role of the Beis Din b'zman haze, is to maintain law and order. That people shouldn’t skin each other alive and that people should act decently towards each other."
https://web.archive.org/web/20131007060705/http://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/739308/Rabbi_Hershel_Schachter/Options_for_Helping_Agunot - at about 38 minutes in.
Rabbi Schachter has not made public his position on Epstein's annulment and remarriage, although ORA, of which Rabbi Schachter serves as posek, declared that Epstien is free. Although the use of kiddushei ta'us in this case would be contrary to halacha according to Rabbi Schachter, his endorsing the annulment and remarriage of Epstein-Fliescher would be consistent with his actions in the Epstein-Friedman matter thus far in consistently contradicting, and thus making a farce of, of his own halachic positions.
Rav Herschel Schacter: Kiddushei Ta'us - Making a Farce of the Halacha
The Ramban writes (in the introduction to his sefer Milchamos Hashem) that the study of Talmud is not like mathematics. In Talmud study, a halachic analysis is not a geometric proof and its validity need not be contingent upon accurate application of hard logic to unassailable axioms; nor is a halachic analysis deemed invalid only upon demonstration of incontrovertible logical errors or fallacious assumptions. What is significant in halacha is the approval or disapproval of halachic experts, implying the reasonableness or unreasonableness of the argument. One must have a strong tradition in psak halacha (rendering of legal decisions) or one can float so far off as to develop the most ridiculous ideas, all in the name of halacha.
The Torah prescribes the divorce procedure such that the husband must participate voluntarily. When he refuses to participate, his wife has no other means to be free of her husband, and while she remains legally married to him she may not marry another man. This situation, though unfair and tragic for the wife, is essentially the creation of a man who has shown himself to be an evil criminal, and is abusing his wife in this contemptible way. He has made her a virtual agunah as the husband alone has the authority to free her. Over the many years of our history the rabbis have done whatever they could for any woman so trapped in this lamentable predicament. Unfortunately, no categorical or general solution to the problem emerged.
About forty years ago an Orthodox individual proposed a solution. He reasoned that the woman requires a divorce only if she is married. Although annulment is not an option, it may be possible to find cause to invalidate her marriage by finding a fatal flaw in her wedding. For example, the wedding requires that the groom give the bride an object of sufficient value, one that the groom is entitled to give, while declaring his intent to thereby marry her, without deceit in any of the particulars, all under the watchful eyes of legitimate witnesses. If any of these conditions are not met then the wedding is fatally flawed. Likewise, if the bride or groom deceives the other in a material way, the other may legitimately claim that the entire wedding was under false pretenses and thus void. Thinking along these lines, the individual referred to above argues that if the bride and groom had realized that their personalities were incompatible, they would never have agreed to get married. Hence, the marriage was effected in error, lacking the requisite da'as (awareness) for a wedding, and no Get is needed to separate them because they were never married. At the time, Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik declared this suggestion ridiculous. As the years went by, the ridiculous has become the sublime.[...]
To declare a marriage a kiddushei ta'us because the wife didn't realize that the husband would be unsuccessful in holding down a job and earning a living is simply unacceptable. To invalidate a kiddushin due to ta'us the halacha requires an extraordinary mum gadol (very significant defect), with a very obviousumdana d'muchach (compelling assumption) that no reasonable woman would agree to marry such a man (see Teshuvos Beis Halevi, vol. 3, pg. 23). [...]
Not only is it a mere impropriety on the part of any beis din to permit a woman to remarry based on such flimsy grounds; even bidieved- if a beis din granted a married woman permission to marry on these grounds- the ruling is ignored, and such a "heter nisuin" issued to the woman is meaningless. Only in the case of a neder do the rabbis have "power" to nullify a commitment by rendering it as a neder b'ta'us, even if it was not manifestly taken in error, as described above. However, in all other areas of halacha- particularly those of marriage and divorce- either the kiddushin falls apart by itself because there was a "mum gadol" and an umdenah demuchach that there was no da'as; or the marriage remains - notwithstanding what any rabbi or any beis din says. The special halachah of "hatarat nedarim" that empowers the beis din to undo a neder retroactively by proclaiming the da'as as a taus only applies in the area of "hafla'ah".
Moreover, even in the case of a sale that was canceled because of a mum, the Rambam wrote (Mechira 15:3) that if the purchaser continued to use the item after having discovered the mum, he cannot later claim mekach taus. Continued use of the item indicates that the level of the ta'us is insufficient to warrant voiding the transaction. Likewise, it is transmitted in the name of Hagaon Rav Moshe Feinstein zt"l, that even in the rare case of an unusual mum gadol, through which the wife would be able to remarry without a get because of the ta'us on her part at the time of the wedding, if the woman didn't walk away from the marriage immediately upon discovering the mum, the halacha of ta'us cannot be applied. [...]
It certainly is a great mitzva to help an aguna escape her plight, but issuing a heter nissuin (permission to get married) to a woman along the lines of heter nedarim is simply a farce. Let us not make a joke out of the Halacha.
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