Long Island rabbis accused of ‘Mafia-like’ methods in kosher turf battle

 https://nypost.com/2021/05/23/long-island-rabbis-accused-of-mafia-like-methods-in-kosher-turf-battle/

A clique of rabbis on Long Island are being accused of Mafia-like tactics to maintain what amounts to a monopoly over the local kosher certification process — sparking a twisted turf war that has outraged local residents and businesses alike, The Post has learned.

A lawsuit filed last month by Chimichurri Charcoal Chicken — located on the busy Rockaway Turnpike across from a McDonald’s — claims the rabbis behind the Vaad Hakashrus of the Five Towns and Far Rockaway ordered observant residents to stop eating at the chicken joint last year after it started using a competing certification service.

 

Jewish groups sound alarm on rise in antisemitic hate crimes amid tensions between Israel, Hamas

 https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/05/22/israel-hamas-conflict-jewish-groups-sound-alarm-antisemitism-us/5220334001/

 Five Jewish groups penned a letter to President Joe Biden on Friday expressing concern about the recent surge of antisemitic hate crimes in the U.S. amid the military confrontation between Israel and Hamas, which agreed to a cease-fire this week.

The American Jewish Community, the Anti-Defamation League, the Jewish Federations of North America, Hadassah and the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America called on the president to use his platform to condemn antisemitism and take a number of actions to combat anti-Jewish hate in the U.S.

"We are grateful for the current ceasefire in the conflict between Israel and the terrorist organization Hamas, but we fear that the way the conflict has been used to amplify antisemitic rhetoric, embolden dangerous actors and attack Jews and Jewish communities will have ramifications far beyond these past two weeks," the groups wrote.

For Orthodox Brooklyn’s private police, a code of silence hides domestic abuse

 https://forward.com/news/470033/for-orthodox-brooklyns-private-police-a-code-of-silence-hides-domestic/

 New York’s Community District 12, which covers the Borough Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, has by far the city’s lowest reported rate of domestic violence: 459 incidents per 100,000 residents in the most recent year the police department has published data.

But that doesn’t mean the largely Haredi community does not have a domestic violence problem. In fact, an analysis of crime data and court records, coupled with interviews of abuse victims, social workers, police officers and experts, show that the low rate instead reflects a code of silence in the insular religious enclave — and, until recently, a longstanding — if unwritten — agreement between the authorities and Orthodox leaders to let the community handle the problem internally.

“In Borough Park they like things taken care of in-house,” said Yael Machtinger, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice who studies domestic violence in religious communities. “It’s definitely part of the culture that they don’t really want to be airing out their dirty laundry.”

‘Anti-Semitic Dog Whistle’: Joy Reid On Marjorie Taylor Greene Comment

'Don't you dare speak for me': Berman fires back at Taylor Greene

Marjorie Taylor Greene doubles down on mask-Holocaust comparison

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/306804

 Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia put the call out for “rational” Jewish people to back up her claim that mask mandates are like the Holocaust.

Her colleagues think that’s nuts.

The latest controversy involving the freshman Republican lawmaker started on Friday when she appeared on a podcast hosted by Christian Broadcasting Network’s chief political analyst, David Brody, to discuss an order by Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic House speaker, that Congress members who refuse to wear masks on the floor must provide proof of having taken the coronavirus vaccine.

המיסיונר שהתחפש לחרדי, הוריד את התחפושת

 https://www.bhol.co.il/news/1225130

המיסיונר שהסעיר את העולם היהודי בכך שחי חיי שקר כחרדי עם משפחתו, התגלה היום בבית שמש כשהוא ללא התחפושת, על פי עדי ראיה, הוא חיפש אפשרות לעבור למקום, וביקר במועצה המקומית, במתנ"ס ובחנויות בסביבה.

תושבים ברמת בית שמש ג' חוששים מהאיש שהתגלה כלא יהודי לאחר 10 שנים שחי בתחפושת חרדית, האיש אמנם הוריד את התחפושת, אך לא ברור מה תוכניותיו.

Study: 20 years later, Rabin assassination conspiracy theories have risen dramatically online

 https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/study-20-years-later-rabin-assassination-conspiracy-theories-have-risen-dramatically-online-430141

 “The Hate Report”, an online report compiled by the Berl Kaznelson Foundation, has found that out of 90,000 mentions of Rabin on the Internet and social media since the beginning of the year, some 22,000 showed support for conspiracy theories surrounding the murder, 9,000 said assassin Yigal Amir is innocent, 1,800 called for him to be released, and the majority of those 22,000 said that the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) or Shimon Peres were directly responsible for his murder.

Some 200 people expressed their belief that Yitzhak Rabin is still alive.

 

Only 60% of Israelis think Yigal Amir murdered Rabin — poll

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/only-60-of-israelis-think-yigal-amir-murdered-rabin-poll/

 The case against Amir was clear-cut. He was caught on video raising a gun to Rabin. He calmly confessed to the police, re-enacted the crime for them, and never recanted his testimony. 

 Fringe conspiracy theories have emerged over the years positing a number of possibilities other than Amir being the assassin. The theories rely on some purportedly ambiguous facts surrounding the night of the murder: claims that the bullets were blanks, witnesses who say they didn’t see blood at the scene, an abnormally long drive to a very near-by hospital. 

Both the court that convicted Amir and the subsequent Shamgar Commission, established to investigate the chain of events leading up to the assassination, rejected the conspiracy claims, and concluded that Amir was guilty of murder.

Yitzhak Rabin assassination conspiracy theories

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yitzhak_Rabin_assassination_conspiracy_theories

Criticisms of the conspiracy theories

There are three types of criticisms of the conspiracy theories. The most common type refutes and relativizes claims made in the conspiracy theories or by the conspiracy theorists ^[1][24] and points out that the theories are detached from Israeli political culture, social relations and historic events. This criticism is not necessarily politically "coloured" and may refer to both the right wing and left wing conspiracy theories. The other criticism focuses entirely on the more common, right wing theories.

A second, mostly Israeli left-wing criticism, attacks the very existence of such theories as a denial of what they consider to be right wing "responsibility" for the murder.^{[citation needed]} This "responsibility" for the murder would have been by creating an extreme hostile environment to the late Prime Minister, in which Yigal Amir and his immediate accomplices Hagai Amir and Dror Adani were just a small group of the actors.

A third type of criticism, by right-wing activists, claims that the mostly Israeli right-wing conspiracy supporters embarrass the Israeli right by supporting fringe theories for which no proof exists. The conspiracy theorists, according to this criticism, move the debate away from the responsibility of what they call the "perpetrators of the Oslo crimes". These right-wing critics conclude that the right-wing conspiracy theorists serve the goals of the Israeli left.^[25]

 

 

Rep. Greene Roundly Criticized for Comparing House Mask Policy to Holocaust

 https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/05/marjorie-taylor-greene-house-mask-policy-holocaust.html

 

The clip of Greene’s comparison to the Holocaust went viral on social media, and many were quick to criticize the lawmaker, including some fellow Republicans. “Evil lunacy,” tweeted Rep. Liz Cheney alongside a clip of Greene’s remarks. “It’s a grotesque idiocy mixed with a neurotic lack of self awareness,” tweeted former Rep. Denver Riggleman, a Republican from Virginia. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a Republican from Illinois, summarized his feelings in two words: “Absolute sickness.” Democrats also joined in on the criticism, and several were quick to point out that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has not said anything about Greene’s words. Rep. Jim McGovern, a Democrat from Massachusetts, called Greene a “deeply troubled person” and said she should “apologize & resign.”

Rep. Meijer blasts Greene's Holocaust comment

 https://www.politico.com/news/2021/05/23/meijer-greene-holocaust-comment-490377

 Rep. Peter Meijer on Sunday called Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s remarks comparing the House’s coronavirus mask restrictions to what the Jewish people suffered during the Holocaust “beyond comprehensible.”

Appearing on CNN’s "State of the Union," the Michigan Republican lambasted Greene’s comments on Real America’s Voice network’s “The Water Cooler with David Brody,” where she likened the requirement of masks to the yellow Star of David that Jewish people were ordered to wear in Nazi Germany.

 

Trump Cornered? Feds Trying To Flip Trump Org. Exec In Criminal Probe

9

End of Sotah - Ency Judaica

 Ordeal Annulled.

This rabbinical interpretation of the law relating to the ordeal practically annulled it, and it soon fell into disuse. During the Roman invasion of Palestine, and the last days of the commonwealth, the Sanhedrin, under the presidency of Johanan ben Zakkai, abolished the ordeal entirely; as the Mishnah states, "when adulterers became numerous, the 'ordeal of the bitter waters' ceased, and it was R. Johanan ben Zakkai who abolished it; as it is written (Hosea, iv. 14), 'I will not punish your daughters, when they commit whoredom, nor your spouses, when they commit adultery; for themselves are separated with whores, and they sacrifice with harlots'" (Soṭah, ix. 9). For it appears that under the Roman régime, immorality spread among the people, the judges became corrupt, the springs of justice were defiled, and general demoralization resulted (Graetz, "History of the Jews," ii. 237, 238). Probably for this very reason Queen Helena of Adiabene, the illustrious and munificent proselyte to Judaism, favored the ordeal; for she presented a golden tablet to the Temple with the chapter from the Law engraved on it, to be used for the rite of the ordeal (Tosef., Yoma, ii. 3; Mishnah Yoma, iii. 10; Gem. ib. 37b). But even if it had not been abolished, the rite would have sunk into abeyance with the fall of the Temple, because, according to the Law, the ceremony could not be performed elsewhere.

The Secret War Agains the Jews

 A hugely controversial work that exposes a series of scandals from Oliver North to the British royal family,The Secret War Against the Jews reveals as much about political corruption inside Western intelligence as it does about Israel. Using thousands of previously top-secret documents and interviews with hundreds of current and former spies, Loftus and Aarons, both veteran investigators, Nazi-hunters, and authors, present a compelling narrative. The authors demonstrate that numerous Western countries, especially the United States and Great Britain, have conducted repeated and willful spying missions on Palestine and later Israel over many decades. While on the surface these two countries and others profess to be ardent allies of Israel, they work, in fact, through their intelligence services to betray Israel's secrets to the Arabs. Their motive: oil and multinational profits, which must be attained at any price through international covert policies. The pageant of characters appearing in this narrative is vast and shocking. This is not only a compelling work of history, but also a volume whose grave allegations will be debated for years to com

John Loftus (author)

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Loftus_(author)

 The Office of Special Investigations historian David Marwell described Loftus' book The Belarus Secret as "the worst kind of amateur history."^[6] Vital Zayka, a fellow of the Center for Jewish History in New York City, accused Loftus of falsification.^[7] The Israeli historian and Nazi hunter Efraim Zuroff described the book as controversial and referred to Charles R. Allen Jr.'s review in Jewish Currents, in which Allen joined the active criticism of Loftus and named him a fraud and a liar.^[8]

 

 

Conspiracy theories in the Arab world

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspiracy_theories_in_the_Arab_world

 In early 2020, according to Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) reports, there have been numerous reports in the Arab press that accused the US and Israel of being behind the creation and spread of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic as part of an economic and psychological war against China. One report in the Saudi daily newspaper Al-Watan claimed that it was no coincidence that the coronavirus was absent from the US and Israel, despite the US having had at least 12 confirmed cases. The US and Israel have also been accused of creating and spreading other diseases, including Ebola, Zika, SARS, avian flu and swine flu, through anthrax and mad cow disease.^[19]

Yitzhak Rabin assassination conspiracy theories

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yitzhak_Rabin_assassination_conspiracy_theories

The matter has been reported as clear cut in the media, and the Shamgar national inquiry commission and the court all drew the same conclusion that Amir was guilty of murder. Nevertheless, some inconsistencies in the evidence have been alleged, both in the medical records and in the inquiry testimony. These allegations and other suspicions have been included in occasional left-wing, and more prevalent right-wing conspiracy theories.

Very Dangerous Anti-Covid-Vaccine Propaganda

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Friends:

I got this 70-page anti-vaccine manifesto in the mail yesterday, in a mailer from that Cedarhurst address.

I am not posting pages with the specific information so as not to give it any oxygen, but above is the table of contents, so you can see where this is all headed.

It is easy to dismiss this as the deranged nonsense that it is; but if past is prologue, many people in our community will refrain from taking the vaccine as a result of this disinformation campaign. (Remember the measles outbreak a while back?)

We need the disinfectant of sunlight to expose and warn the public about these very dangerous people.

Gut Shabbos/Shabbat Shalom

Yakov Horowitz

Biden: Dems still support Israel, intercommunal fighting in Jerusalem must stop

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/biden-dems-still-support-israel-intercommunal-fighting-in-jerusalem-must-stop/

 President Joe Biden on Friday said there has been no shift in his commitment to Israel’s security, but insisted a two-state solution that includes a state for Palestinians remains “the only answer” to that conflict.

Biden spoke at a White House news conference on the first full day of a ceasefire after 11 days of Israeli-Hamas fighting.

Biden, speaking at the end of a visit by the president of South Korea, also played down the idea that the newly ended fighting had opened a rift among Democrats, as scores of Democrats split with Biden’s “quiet diplomacy” with ally Israel to publicly demand a ceasefire.

FBI reopens case of 1973 assassination of Israeli diplomat

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/fbi-reopens-case-of-1973-assassination-of-israeli-diplomat/

 The Jackal claimed that it was not Palestinian terrorists but rather US Vietnam vets who assassinated Alon at the behest of a Syrian member of Black September — the group responsible for the murder of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics. 

 In “Chasing Shadows,” a book about the assassination, Fred Burton wrote that Alon was murdered by a terrorist from the Black September group who was ultimately killed by the Mossad in 2011, though Casey, the FBI agent, said that was never verified.

 

The 44-year-old unsolved murder of an Israeli official on American soil

 https://www.jpost.com/jerusalem-report/the-44-year-old-unsolved-murder-of-an-israeli-official-on-american-soil-481056

 A secret FBI document from 1977 said the murderers were two Arab students who entered the US from Canada with either Lebanese or Cypriot passports, and were supported by friends and sympathizers who sheltered and supplied them with a car and guns.

In another top-secret document, the CIA wrote that “most probably” a Fatah-Black September cell (an organ of Yasser Arafat’s PLO) was responsible for the attack. Nevertheless, the investigation reached a dead end, and the file was closed in 1978.

 Against this background, the Alon sisters began to develop a strong belief in conspiracy theories, which were further fed by Israeli Liora Amir-Barmatz, a television director at Channel 1. She produced a documentary called “Who Killed Daddy?” which aired a few years ago.

 The film provided not one iota of evidence to verify the crackpot theory, but those skeptical of it were excluded from expressing their arguments. I was interviewed by the director for nearly three hours; Amir-Barmatz used a 15-second clip.

 Unfortunately, the Alon sisters stick to their obsessive belief – like those who continue to toss around wild theories about JFK’s assassination. They won’t abandon their conspiracy theory that their father was murdered on orders from the US and Israeli security services.

Know Comment: In defense of Kissinger

 https://www.jpost.com/opinion/know-comment-in-defense-of-kissinger-596115

 Two weeks ago, this newspaper published an unbridled attack on Dr. Henry Kissinger and on a Jewish organization in New York for inviting him to speak. The op-ed claimed that Kissinger “has a long record of undermining Israel” and that he “caused grave damage to Israel.”

The 96-year-old former US secretary of state does not deserve such opprobrium. On the contrary, he has earned our appreciation.

Kissinger remains one of the greatest practitioners of modern foreign policy and strategic affairs; a towering intellectual thinker; an architect of global stability and Mideast peacemaking; and yes – he was friend of Israel when in office and he is today, too.

 The most serious allegation hurled at Kissinger over the years by some Israelis is that he held up the American resupply of Israel with weapons during the first week of the 1973 Yom Kippur War. As the story goes, Israel requested an emergency airlift of arms as soon as the war broke out. But Kissinger didn’t want Israel’s eventual victory to be too lopsided, thinking it would easier to get a stable ceasefire if Egypt and Israel fought to a draw, so he supposedly stalled the airlift and bled Israel.Except that this isn’t true. President Richard Nixon and Kissinger clearly wanted to lead post-war peace talks based on an Israeli victory, not on a draw with the Arabs who were backed by Soviet arms. Israeli victory was the American interest.

The AP tower: The anatomy of an IDF diplomatic mishap - comment

 https://www.jpost.com/opinion/the-ap-tower-the-anatomy-of-an-idf-diplomatic-mishap-comment-668711

 “Someone should have raised a red flag and pointed out that AP is an American news agency, and that an attack like this is not going to go by quietly.”

Israel announces 'mutual and unconditional' ceasefire with Hamas

 https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/no-rocket-sirens-since-1-am-as-israel-hamas-ceasefire-said-to-be-close-668607

 Egyptian security source - whose country has been mediating between the sides - said they had agreed in principle to a mutual halt in hostilities.

Biden promises to replenish Iron Dome, help rebuild Gaza

https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/biden-us-will-replenish-iron-dome-amid-ceasefire-668721 

US President Joe Biden promised to replenish Israel's Iron Dome system and to help rebuild Gaza in a brief address he delivered at the White House shortly after the announcement that a truce had been reached to end 11 days of IDF-Hamas conflict on Thursday evening.

"The US is committed to working with the UN... and other international stakeholders to provide rapid humanitarian assistance and to marshal international support for the people of Gaza and the Gaza reconstruction efforts," he said.

"We will do this in full partnership with the Palestinian  Authority,  not Hamas, the PA, in a manner that does not permit Hamas to restock its military arsenal," Biden said.

"Palestinians and Israelis equally deserve to live safely and securely. My administration will continue our quiet relentless diplomacy toward that end. We have a genuine opportunity to make progress," Biden said.

 

Get on Demand זיוף התורה : Psak from R Hershel Schacter

GET ON DEMAND

זיןף התורה

                                                                    

The words highlighted above in yellow do not appear in the   רעק''א or in the שבות יעקב חלק א' סימן י''ד which the רעק''א is referencing.  The reason these words were inserted was that the author was trying to promote his agenda and give credence to a concept which he has fantasized. In order to explain why this forgery was perpetrated It is important to explain the agenda and why it is wrong.

A husband has the obligation of שאר כסות ועונה (שכו''ע) if the husband refuses to meet the obligation of עונה we say he is being מעגן his wife. We are also allowed to force him to give a get since he is violating the obligations of שכו''ע. In Siman 77 he is classified as a מורד. Until modern times a husband who did not want to go thru the GET process would just leave town and never be heard from again. This is what the שבות יעקב is addressing, the instance of a מורד. In the scenario of a GET ON DEMAND the husband is prepared to meet his obligations but the wife still wants to leave the marriage, there is absolutely no requirement for the husband to give a get, since he is not a מורד. Therefore it is 100% prohibited from applying pressure on the husband to facilitate the GET. This is a complete contradiction to the feminist philosophy of GET ON DEMAND

In order to pander to the feminist movement and not be considered old fashioned the author has created a pseudo concept which has no basis in HALACHAH. He has claimed that once a woman leaves a marriage and will not go back the marriage is broken. Since the marriage is now broken the woman is anעגונה   and now there is a Mitzvah for the husband to give a GET. They are using the שבות יעקב as the source for this. As explained in the previous paragraph this is a major mistake. They are also misclassifying the woman by calling her an עגונה In the vast majority of cases she is not an עגונה  but a מורדת. The HALACHA in these instances is that she has to be told to return to her husband. The reason we do not hear of this happening is because any Bais Din who told a woman that she must return to her husband would cause the stream of dollars from women seeking the Bais Din to assist them in leaving a marriage to cease. Since no one is willing to stand up to this crowd their fraudulent Halachas have propagated and are now affecting the Yichus of Bnei Torah.

In the instance of the woman claiming מאוס עלי and having presented it in a manner which is an אמתלא מבוררת ונכרת to a Bais Din she does not have to return to the husband. This is extremely rare and the reasons for the rarity are out of scope for this article. The Ramoh quotes the Tur on this scenario. I will quote the statement of the Tur on this to make it clearer. In Siman 77 it says as follows ובאר עוד בתשובה וכתב והסכימו חכמי אשכנז וצרפת שבטענת מאיס עלי אין לכוף לבעל לגרש לכן יזהר כל דיין שלא לכוף לגרש בטענת מאיס עלי וכן אין כופין אותה להיות אצלו There is no greater scenario of a broken marriage then one where the woman does not have to return to live with the husband. We still say that even in this scenario it is prohibited from forcing the husband to give a GET. This is a complete contradiction to what the GET ON DEMAND people are promoting.

RAMIFICATIONS

1>  No external pressure is applied. The Bais Din tells the husband that he is obligated according to the Torah to give a get. He obeys the Bais Din and gives a GET. This is a classic case of a גט בטעות . If the husband would know that there is absolutely no obligation to give a GET he would never have given a GET. This is a statement from the חזון איש in EVEN HOEZER Siman 99 paragraph 2 on a similar scenario ועוד דחשיב גט בטעות דאילו הוי ידע שאינו חייב לא היה מגרש                                                          

2> Indirect pressure applied. There are too many variables involved so this is not in scope.        

                                           

3> Direct pressure applied. This would also invalidate the GET because it is  מעושה שלא כדין

TOSHAV MONSEY

toshav@optimum.net

                                         

                                                  

‘In world’s view, Palestinians are the weaker side’: Inside Israel’s PR war

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-worlds-view-palestinians-are-the-weaker-side-inside-israels-pr-war/

 “But self-damaging Israeli hasbara makes it so easy for him, for example with the ‘before and after’ IDF Instagram post he cited celebrating the demolition of the Gaza media tower — what he called the ‘triumphant meme.’ And most substantively, Israel leaves the door wide open to its critics, and dismays its supporters, by failing to effectively explain, in real time, when things go wrong.”