This was created by a reader. It is obviously a very stunning and powerful statement.
The issue right now seems to be whether to make an emotional appeal or to present a reasoned and calm legal statement
It seems the majority feel that I need to have a simple and dignified bland cover rather than something that grabs the eye and heart. I am open to opinion. Obviously this is not simply a matter of taste but what will reinforce the message or cause it to be dismissed.
Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich sought to reframe the American foreign policy debate last week. The central issue, Gingrich told the American Enterprise Institute, is whether policymakers recognize the existence of a civilizational struggle between the West and those who seek to expand the domain of Shari'a, or Islamic law, across the globe. He located the beginning of the struggle as the takeover of the American embassy in Teheran by radical students, including Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Gingrich pointedly refrained from painting the issue as one of terrorism. Terrorism and military conquest, jihad, is only one of the tools of political or radical Islam. Dawa, or proselytization, is jihad by other means. A fifteen-page 1991 document produced by the Muslim Brotherhood of North America, and subsequently revealed by the FBI, proclaims, for instance, its goal of "eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within." The document includes a list of "our organizations and the organizations of our friends," including some of the best known Muslim "defense" organizations in the United States.[...]
See the following link which gives an example of the above.
There are three types of cases that are important. 1) There are suspicions that abuse took place or there are suspicions that someone is an abuser. What is missing is evidence but the evidence can be obtained by competent investigation. 2) the facts are well known or the evidence is solid that abuse took place and the identity of the abuser is known. The problem is what to do with this according to the halacha and secular law. These two cases are dealt with at length in my book. However there is a 3) third type of case which is much more problematic. That is where the evidence is not known - either regarding whether abuse happened or whether the suspect in fact abused the child. Or alternatively there is conflicting evidence. This happens in divorce cases where where the wife accuses her husband of abusing the kids. She might even claim that she witnessed it. The husband denies it. In addition there are cases of abuse where the police investigate and say that they don't have sufficient evidence and therefore close the case.
In both these cases claims have not in fact been disproven - but they haven't been proven either. Many times the beis din, police or the secular court system will simply say there is nothing that they can do because of lack of evidence and they close the case.
The suspect has not in fact been declared innocent. What should be done with the suspect?
According to the judicial model (both Jewish and secular)- since there is no case it is equivalent to saying he is innocent. In fact if there aren't two kosher witnesses - the charges are not allowed to be made public. However according to the defense against harm model - the suspected abuser can not be trusted and restrictions or supervisions are necessary.
If he is a teacher or someone who deals with children - he can not be allowed unrestricted access to the children and there are solid grounds for dismissal simply because of the charges. If he is a parent then there needs to be careful monitoring of the children. These are difficult cases to deal with - especially since both sides usually have proponents who feel very strongly that they have the truth.
Prosecutors have submitted to the Be'er Sheva District Court an amendment to the indictment against one of the men suspected of sexual abuse in the ultra-Orthodox community of Moshav Komemiyut. The Southern District Prosecutor's Office has thus agreed to ease the conditions of the suspect's house arrest, allowing him outside for most of the day and evening.
According to the amendment, the man - whose name is banned from publication because most of the deeds attributed to him were committed when he was a minor - performed indecent acts from 2001 to 2004, not earlier, as stated in the original indictment.[...]
The following was written by Rabbi Daniel Yaakov Travis based on a drasha given by Rav Moshe Sternbuch, Rosh Av Beis Din of the Eidah Hachareidis of Yerushalayim.
• • • • •
ABOMINATIONS IN YERUSHALAYIM
Guard yourself lest you forget the Almighty… (Devorim 8:11).
The entire world trembles as every passing day brings Iran closer to nuclear capability. However, Torah-true Jews do not have the slightest fears regarding Iran. We know that without Hashem’s consent, they cannot lift a finger against us.
What are we worried about? The posuk warns us that what we must fear the most is the possibility that we may forget the Almighty. If this happens, then we really have something to fear.
The Smag writes that forgetting Hashem is a Torah prohibition. How do we make sure we avoid this transgression? If Divine honor is being trampled on, we must take action to protect it. Otherwise, we have forgotten the Almighty.
The posuk in ParshasHa'azinu writes that to’eivos, abominations, yach’isuhu, arouse the anger of the Almighty. Rashi explains that this refers to the abominations of same-gender marriages. There is no other transgression that Hashem considers as much of an affront to His honor, and it therefore elicits such a harsh Divine response.
On the 18th of Av, in the holy city of Yerushalayim, there was a parade of those who are guilty of this very abominable act. We can only imagine the level of Divine anger that was stirred up by this event. What can Jews in Israel and around the world do to counter the spiritual damage that took place and to save our entire nation from the great catastrophe that this could cause?
THE DANGER OF KEEPING QUIET
There are pesukim in Yechezkel that warn of the great retribution that will come about if there are such abominations in Yerushalayim: the entire population would be killed. At the time of these warnings, the Jewish people did not listen, and eventually Divine patience ran out and a decree was handed down for all of the transgressors to be killed.
The Gemara in Maseches Shabbos (55a) states that this instance was the only time in the history of Klal Yisroel that Hashem rescinded a positive decree. These abominations that took place during the times of Yechezkel were similar to the acts of those who marched in Yerushalayim on the 18th of Av.
At that time, Hashem made a gezeirah to destroy all of the resha’im, but to put a tuf on the heads of the tzaddikim. The Soton went to Hashem and pointed out that the tzaddikim didn’t protest all of these abominations. Hashem replied that even if they had said something, it would not have helped. The Soton continued his accusation and said that although this may be true, the tzaddikim did not know that, so they should have taken action.
Hashem did not argue with this claim of the Soton, and responded by rescinding His decree to protect the tzaddikim from being killed along with the resha’im in this gezeirah of destruction. In no other case in history did Hashem rescind a positive decree. History tends to repeat itself, and if we keep quiet, we may find ourselves in a similar situation.
AN OBLIGATION TO PROTEST
At Har Sinai, the malachim told Hashem not to give us the Torah, for we were destined to violate it. While their prediction was accurate, Klal Yisroel replied to the malachim that they accepted arvus, i.e., responsibility for the sins of all future Jews, and it was under these conditions that Hashem agreed to give us the Torah. Since we have accepted responsibility, even though we are not actively marching in this parade, we are responsible for the actions of those who are.
Tosafos in Maseches Shavous writes that if a talmid chochom is quiet and does not give evidence that he knows, it is as if he did the act himself. So, too, if we sit by quietly while an abomination happens, we will be held accountable for it as if we had done it ourselves. We must do what we can to stop future events.
Other Torah luminaries agreed with the importance of protesting this abominable display. When Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv was asked whether Jews should attend the protest, he replied, "The Torah says that when abominations take place, one must make a protest. What can I add to the words of the Torah?”
FIGHTING AMALEIK
The war against Amaleik continues in every generation. Amaleik completely denied the existence of Hashem and laughed at Him. They took the milah of Jews and threw them to the Heavens, implying that that is where this mitzvah belongs.
Rav Chaim Brisker said that the Rambam writes that the mitzvah of destroying Amaleik is to destroy the zeicher of Amaleik, not just the seed of Amaleik. Anything that has to do with Amaleik is included in this prohibition. The animals who are parading today are not only zeicher Almaleik. They are Amaleik.
Chazal tell us that Amaleik comes when Klal Yisroel is weak in Torah learning. Targum Yonason says that this is what Eisav had in mind when he said that he would kill Yaakov when Yitzchok died. It was because Yaakov would not be learning Torah then. Even if Yaakov would be learning, he could not be learning b’iyun. Under such circumstances, he was vulnerable.
The Torah states that if we allow abominations, the Shechinah will leave us. Women also have to strengthen themselves to prevent the strengthening of Amaleik. Inappropriate clothing fuels the power of Amaleik. Every Jew has to look into his or her own life and try to eliminate what they are doing that might have had a part in bringing this abominable parade to Yerushalayim.
PROFANING YERUSHALAYIM
During the time of the Vilna Gaon, there lived a famous righteous convert whose name was Avrohom ben Avrohom. He was from a distinguished family of religious non-Jews, and they were appalled by his decision to convert to Judaism. For his betrayal to the faith, he was sentenced to be burned alive.
Right before the ger tzedek was about to be killed, the goyim said that if he would make the smallest sign of agreement with the religion of the notzrim, they would release him. The ger tzedek replied that he was not willing to engage in even the smallest act of agreement, and Avrohom ben Avrohom died a death of complete kiddush Hashem. The Vilna Gaon commented that, at that moment, the power of the Soton was weakened.
On the other hand, when great chillul Hashem takes place, the power of the Soton is strengthened. This is what happened on the 18th of Av when this abominable parade took place in the holy city. The Yerushalayim of 4 p.m. on the 18th of Av was not the same Yerushalayim as that of 8 p.m., after it was profaned by the parade.
In our days, we are suffering through a bitter golus, and the pain of the Shechinah is great. Some rabbonim said that we should not protest the parade because it will cause people to speak about things that are an abomination. While this sounds logical, remaining silent actually makes these issues even worse.
From the story of the ger tzedek, we see that the mere presence of these people here in the holy city strengthens the forces of impurity in Yerushalayim. The entire city is threatened by this. If we sit back silently, these forces will quietly grow stronger and stronger.
BIRTHPAINS OF MOSHIACH
Rav Yochanan, who experienced the death of ten of his children, said he could not withstand the pain of chevlei Moshiach. These words are extremely difficult to understand. What could be worse than having ten children die?
Rav Elya Lopian, in the name of Rav Simcha Zissel, explains that Rav Yochanan was afraid that he would not be able to stand the nisyonos of the End of Days.
Having such an abominable parade marching through the streets of Yerushalayim is surely included in the events that Rav Yochanan feared.
On the 18th of Av, the Creator of the Universe was disgraced in His holy palace. By protesting, we show that we also share in His pain. Whatever we can do, we are responsible to do.
One tumah brings another tumah. If we sit by silently and let this happen, then it will get worse and worse. We must do what we can to stop these types of events.
This year's parade was much larger than last year's parade. Next year, they are planning an even bigger parade. They want to bring people from all over the world to flaunt their abominations.
The Torah warns us about forgetting Hashem, and, as mentioned above, one of the greatest expressions of ignoring Hashem is standing by quietly while Divine honor is trampled upon. Every Jew, both inside and outside of Israel, should try and feel the great pain that the Shechinah suffered from this abomination that took place in Yerushlayim, and try and do teshuvah for the transgression that may have helped bring it about. In this way, we will merit to see the great revelation of Divine honor soon.
• • • • •
Rabbi Travis is a rosh kollel of Kollel Toras Chaim in Yerushalayim, and is the author of Shaylos U'Teshuvos Toras Chaim and "Praying With Joy - A Daily Tefilla Companion," a practical daily guide to improving one's prayers, available from Feldheim Publishers. Rav Shternbuch’s weekly shiurim on the parsha, compiled and edited by Rabbi Travis, are now available as a sefer titled “A Voice in the Darkness.” For more information about his work, contact dytravis@actcom.com.
TEASER
If we sit back silently, these forces will quietly grow stronger and stronger.
Police recently reopened criminal investigations based on sexual abuse allegations made against Rabbi Mordechai “Motti” Elon, it was reported Wednesday.
A former student of the charismatic rabbi accused him of sexual abuse, which sparked the new scrutiny. Police expect to present their findings to the state attorney within a few weeks.[...]
There is a remarkable Malbim on the book of Jonah 2:4. The Malbim discusses how Jonah was caught in a river under the sea – where the waters of the river were separate from the ocean waters. Until this month – this was generally thought to be a physical impossibility.
Below, however, we find an article written by Richard Gray – the science editor of the British newspaper the telegraph. The results are striking. The reader is urged to see the Malbim with his or her own eyes. The term utilized by the Malbim - “Levav Yamim” clearly means sea bed.
“Researchers working in the Black Sea have found currents of water 350 times greater than the River Thames flowing along the sea bed, carving out channels much like a river on the land. [...]
On Tuesday afternoon, several hours before a highly anticipated televised speech by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, Lebanese army snipers fired at an Israeli military detail that was trimming trees on the Israeli side of the border. The premeditated attack, which killed a colonel and left another officer severely wounded, came exactly four years since the end of the war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. The question now is whether this incident could spark a chain reaction that results in another war.
Despite its overwhelming military might, Israel emerged badly bruised from its confrontation with the Shiite militia in 2006. Since then, the Jewish state has repeatedly threatened that any act of aggression on the Israel-Lebanon border would be met with a punishing response. It claimed it would hold the Lebanese government—in which Hezbollah is a key player—responsible, regardless of the identity of the perpetrators.. [...]
JERUSALEM — The United Nations peacekeeping force in South Lebanon, Unifil, said on Wednesday it had concluded that Israeli forces were cutting trees that lay within their own territory before a lethal exchange of fire with Lebanese Army troops on Tuesday, largely vindicating Israel’s account of how the fighting started. [...]
The last three men nominated to the Supreme Court have all been married and, among them, have seven children. The last three women — Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor and Harriet Miers (who withdrew) — have all been single and without children.
This little pattern makes the court a good symbol of the American job market. Women and men with similar qualifications — age, education, experience — are much more likely to be treated similarly today than in the past. The pay gap between them, while still not zero, has shrunk to just a few percentage points.
Yet once you look beyond the tidy comparisons of supposedly identical men and women, the picture is much less sunny. There are still only 15 Fortune 500 companies with a female chief executive. Men dominate the next rungs of management in most fields, too. Over all, full-time female workers make a whopping 23 percent less on average than full-time male workers.
Far from newspaper headlines, several sexual abuse cases involving children and teens exposed in national-religious sector. Rabbis blame porn websites, while new program attempts to tackle phenomenon for first time, without using word 'sex'
When the nightmare began, Shlomo (not his real name) was sure he could still put an end to it: One slap or a serious talk and the child would surely understand there's something utterly wrong with his behavior.[...]
On any other day, the facility on the Sapir campus would have been packed with kids, and the losses would have been devastating.
The child hydrotherapy rehabilitation center adjoining Sderot’s Sapir Academic College provides therapy and workshops for specialneeds children who live in the western Negev and is used by children from the entire country.
On Saturday night, an upgraded Kassam rocket scored a direct hit on the ceiling of the center.[...]
A five-year custody battle ended recently when a 17-judge panel at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasberg determined that Noam Shuruk, whose mother kidnapped him to Switzerland after his father joined the Chabad community, is to remain in her care.
The decision gave rise to claims of anti-Semitism and miscarriage of justice by both the State Prosecutor's Office and the father, who say the judges ruled in favor of the mother because the father is Israeli and ultra-Orthodox.
The mother, Isabelle Neulinger, recounted the kidnapping in an interview with Yedioth Ahronoth. She said she had hired a smuggler for the sum of $30,000 to take her and Noam to Sharm El-Sheikh after they had crossed the border from Israel into the Egyptian Sinai peninsula. [...]
In a recent article published in the Yiddish Forward, journalist Rukhl Schaechter reports on the problem of unreported abuse and cover-ups within the Charedi community.
Below are links to the original article in Yiddish and an English translation commissioned by SFJ (Survivors for Justice) and approved by Ms. Schaechter.
Listening to the popular New York Jewish radio program, "The Zev Brenner Show," one suddenly heard the following commercial narrated by a woman speaking in authentic Hasidic Yiddish:"I am the mother of Yoeli Engelman. Yoeli is a survivor of sexual molestation. 15 years ago, when he was a child in cheder (elementary school), he was molested by his principal. This very principal today teaches in the same cheder, and the administration unashamedly defends him. This terrible crime and severe chilul Hashem (desecration of God's name) can only be dealt with by the Child Victims Act, which will force the administration to protect the innocent children instead of the guilty teacher. Fathers and mothers, Remember! Our children need us! Thank you." This commercial, aired by the SFJ (Survivors for Justice) -- an organization that combats sexual abuse in the orthodox world, mentions only one example of a serious problem in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish world: Countless numbers of children, specifically boys, are sexually molested by their teachers, rabbis and other authority figures in the community, but little is being done to punish the perpetrators..
Senior haredi rabbis advise on Halacha matters pertaining to yeshiva students' holiday period between Tisha B'Av and Rosh Chodesh Elul
Rabbi Yehuda Leib Steinman, one of the leaders of the Lithuanian ultra-Orthodox community ruled recently that during flights one is best advised to pray the Amidah prayer (The Standing Prayer) sitting down, restfully, rather than standing up.
This was his answer to haredi yeshiva students currently in the midst of the "Bein Hazmanim" holiday period - a break between Tisha B'Av and the beginning of Elul. Busy planning overseas vacations, the students were concerned about difficulties in saying all the customary prayers on board planes.[...]
Dozens of Orthodox rabbis have signed a statement of principles saying that religious communities must accept those of its members who are "active homosexuals" and their biological or adopted children, and that they must not be encouraged to undergo "change therapies" or marry someone of the opposite sex.
The statement was formulated following a panel held by the "rashei yeshiva ramim" six months ago in New York. The panel included three homosexual graduates of the Yeshiva University, and was hosted by its spiritual supervisor, Rabbi Yosef Blau. [...]
Military officials hope Friday morning's Grad rocket in Ashkelon was lone incident which will not be followed by escalation in south, although two mortar shells land in Eshkol Regional Council several hours later. 'They have longer range missiles,' head of Home Front Command's southern district tells Ynet [...]
Igros Moshe1(E.H. 4:65.11): Concerning the permissibility of a brother and sister being secluded together alone occasionally - whether this also applies in a situation where they are living in their parents home which therefore means it a fixed arrangement. When they are alone together in the house is this considered on occasion and therefore permitted or since he is in fact living with her in a fixed manner it is not permitted for them to be alone - even though the seclusion is only occasional. It seems that the practice of the world is to permit this. Even when the parents have only one son and one daughter who are old enough to be obligated in mitzvos, they leave them alone in the house for hours even at night. No one is concerned about the issue of yichud in these circumstances for brother and sister - even religious people. It would seem that this leniency is implied by Rashi who writes (Kiddushin 81b) that "brother and sister can be secluded together occasionally but he does not dwell with her constantly in the house".... this implies that the permissibility of seclusion with a sister is even when they dwell together for an extended time. However the prohibition of seclusion with his sister is only if they are alone constantly together but if it is only occasionally that they are alone then it is permitted even when they are living together for an extended time. That is the reason for the widespread leniency in this matter. However there is no question that they are not to be left alone in the house for an extended time at nights on frequent occasions until this is viewed as the normal situation - and not just an occasional occurrence. In this matter it is not possible to specify the exact number of hours or times that it is prohibited. Rather each one needs to recognize in his sons and daughters what is appropriate.
Vitamin D promises to be the most talked-about and written-about supplement of the decade. While studies continue to refine optimal blood levels and recommended dietary amounts, the fact remains that a huge part of the population — from robust newborns to the frail elderly, and many others in between — are deficient in this essential nutrient.
If the findings of existing clinical trials hold up in future research, the potential consequences of this deficiency are likely to go far beyond inadequate bone development and excessive bone loss that can result in falls and fractures. Every tissue in the body, including the brain, heart, muscles and immune system, has receptors for vitamin D, meaning that this nutrient is needed at proper levels for these tissues to function well.[...]
A federal conviction for white-collar fraud is no guarantee of a heavy prison sentence. When five defendants in the fraud case involving the American International Group were sentenced, they could have faced life in prison; instead, a judge handed down sentences of one to four years for causing more than $500 million in losses. A Ponzi-scheme criminal who caused more than $40 million in losses got 25 years. A man convicted of securities fraud that caused more than $50 million in losses got a three-and-a-half-year sentence. [...]
Although some American Jewish leaders said this week that they will be entering upcoming negotiations over the proposed Israeli conversion bill free of preconceptions, a leader of Reform Jewry said there remains a “red line” for his movement.
“The critical point will be giving ultimate authority to the Chief Rabbinate, which is a fundamental violation of the status quo,” said Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union for Reform Judaism. “In my opinion, that is the red line.
“If you write in the law [as currently proposed] that the Chief Rabbinate has the ultimate authority over conversions, 30 years of legal decisions [by Israel’s High Court of Justice] are thrown out,” Rabbi Yoffie continued. “For us, that is the most significant issue; everything else should be negotiated.”[...]
A Georgia student studying counseling says her university went too far in requiring her to change her Christian beliefs on homosexuality before she's allowed to graduate.
Backed by the Alliance Defense Fund, Jennifer Keeton has filed suit against Augusta State University after, she said, school officials threatened to dismiss her from its counseling program when she refused to participate in a "remediation" plan to increase her tolerance of gays and lesbians after she made it known that she believed homosexuality was a personal choice.
According to the lawsuit, filed earlier this month in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia, school officials told Keeton that she was failing to conform to professional standards because of her views on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues.[...]
Last week, we asked readers to submit questions to Michael Fertik, founder of ReputationDefender, and Paul Ohm, a law professor at the University of Colorado, in response to The New York Times Magazine article “The Web Means the End of Forgetting.” Below are their responses. In some cases, we shortened the questions and fixed typos.
What is the best way to maintain an online alias for any material that you do not wish to be publicly connected to you, while still allowing friends and some acquaintances to stay in contact? [...]
In an influential article in the Annual Review of Neuroscience, Joshua Gold of the University of Pennsylvania and Michael Shadlen of the University of Washington sum up experiments aimed at discovering the neural basis of decision-making. In one set of experiments, researchers attached sensors to the parts of monkeys’ brains responsible for visual pattern recognition. The monkeys were then taught to respond to a cue by choosing to look at one of two patterns. Computers reading the sensors were able to register the decision a fraction of a second before the monkeys’ eyes turned to the pattern. As the monkeys were not deliberating, but rather reacting to visual stimuli, researchers were able to plausibly claim that the computer could successfully predict the monkeys’ reaction. In other words, the computer was reading the monkeys’ minds and knew before they did what their decision would be. [...]
I once heard from a talmid chochom in Eretz Yisroel, albeit a krumme one vos halt zich a talmid fun Shloime Goren, that the Fleur de Lis symbol was mistomme adopted by the Notzrim in France because they brought it back from the Crusades.
I was surprised to see in a seforim store today, kiddush bechers being sold with the symbol on them. When I inquired, it was brushed off as being a "Jewish" symbol on klei koydesh that has been on things for a "long time". I didn't buy it, especially because I have never seen it before on anything Yiddish.
From what I can find on the internet, it was takke adopted by French kings in the 1100s. The royal propaganda had it that it shtams from the coronation of King Clovis in 493, the first king of Gaul (old France) to be megayer to Catholicism. Historians don't seem to believe it and make choyzek that the Catholics made up a bubbe mayseh so they could convince the hamon am to be maaminim that it was given over to Clovis by Yoshke alein al yedei the Pope.
Historian Anne Lombard-Jourdan associates the emblem with the Cathedral Basilica of Saint-Denis, which is one of biggest mekomos "hakedoshim" in Catholic France.
Historian Fox-Davies says it is associated with the "besulah", imo Miriam, and King Louis VI started using it as a symbol for "Saints".
England also uses Fleur de Lis on the Crown Jewels which are religious in nature. The set that we know today has been around since the 1200s, the time of the Crusades.
Pastorneau says they were embedded in icons of Yoshke in the 1200s. F.R. Webber said the Notzrim considered the Fleur to represent the Trinity.
The only "Jewish" usage I could find anywhere was adopted by the Tzionim on badges for חיל המודיעין which is a branch of Israeli Intelligence under Tzahal.
The following was written by Rabbi Daniel Yaakov Travis based on a drasha given by Rav Moshe Sternbuch, Rosh Av Beis Din of the Eidah Hachareidis of Yerushalayim. • • • • •
PRIORITIZING "Do not show favor in judgment, listen carefully to small and large cases, do not be afraid of anyone, for mishpot is in the jurisdiction of Elokim..." Sefer Devorim starts off by describing the type of judicial system that we should establish. After listing a number of requirements, the Torah substantiates its requirements by writing that mishpot is in the jurisdiction of Elokim. What is the deeper meaning of this idea?
Moshe Rabbeinu is instructed to set up these courts, and to find judges who can decide cases between one Jew and another. On the surface, it might appear as though this mitzvah pales in comparison to Shabbos, kashrus, and other such Torah commandments that govern man's direct relationship with his Creator. These are the areas that would seem to deserve much more focus and attention.
For this reason, the Torah states the direct association between mishpot and Elokim. In connecting judicial law to His Divine name, the Torah is saying that someone who downplays the mitzvos involving interpersonal relationships should recognize that his actions are an affront to Elokim. This is why the neviim repeatedly warned the Jewish people to make sure that they were not lax regarding this category of mitzvos.
UNPAID DEBTS There is also a more hidden aspect to this association: On occasion, a person might come to bais din thinking that he has an open and shut case, one hundred percent sure that he will be victorious. Yet, when the p'sak is issued, it is actually his opponent who is rendered the victor. How can he come to terms with what seems to be a clear perversion of justice?
The Zohar explains that this is the deeper connection between mishpot and Elokim. At times, there are debts that need to be repaid from other gilgulim, i.e., previous occasions that we lived in this world. Through some minor financial losses in this world, Elokim makes sure that a person can go into the next world free of previous debts.
Every Jew who experiences seemingly undeserved suffering in this world should keep the above concept in mind. Nothing in this world is for naught. Any travails that a person experiences during his lifetimes lessen the necessity for punishment in the next world.
Rav Sternbuch remembers seeing Rav Mordechai Pogramansky during the last days of his life. Although Rav Pogramansky was stricken with stomach cancer, was already blind, and suffered from unbearable pain, he did not complain at all. On the contrary, he pleaded with Hashem that He should allow him to pay off all of his debts in this world and come to the next world clean.
Rav Pogramansky's actions are certainly an extremely high level and far beyond the reach of most Jews in this generation. Yet, there is an important message in his words, even for us today. All of Hashem's actions are just, and if we can swallow what He sends us, we will definitely be remunerated with acceptance in the next world.
IN THE SHADOWS OF CHURBAN HABAYIS Perhaps the greatest punishment that the Jewish people have received as a nation was the destruction of both the first and second Botei Mikdosh. On Tisha B'Av, we spend the entire day recognizing this tragedy. Yet, our mourning goes far beyond that: Tisha B'Av is also the day to remember all of the many tragedies that Klal Yisroel has experienced throughout history. The Medrash describes Tisha B'Av as a day of mourning and as a mo'ed, a festival. We can understand why Tisha B'Av is viewed as a sad day, given all of the travails we suffered on that day, but what about Tisha B'Av classifies it as a festival? When the Bais Hamikdosh stood, Divine judgment was much stronger. Since we were able to witness constant miracles there, any doubt in emunah was considered a major breach in our relationship with Hashem. Transgressions during this time quite seriously aroused His anger, and the attribute of din was very prominent. After the destruction of the Bais Hamikdosh, the full extent of the Shechinah's Presence is no longer felt. Because of this, Divine retribution is much less harsh. While His face is hidden, Hashem expects much less of us. For this very reason, Tisha B'Av is also considered to be a festival. In today's world, where the Shechinah is almost completely veiled, any mitzvah we perform is considered a major accomplishment. Even the smallest act is looked upon as something extraordinary.
On the other hand, because there is so much impurity in the world, our transgressions are viewed as less serious. What once required many fasts and other forms of abstention to gain atonement can now be achieved with relative ease. The same destruction that is a reason to mourn can simultaneously be viewed in a different and more positive light.
As we approach the coming of Moshiach, we can strengthen ourselves by keeping the dual nature of this time in mind. We should never let the craziness of the world around us pull us into the abyss of modern day society. Our lowly state should not be a cause for depression. Rather, we should use it to lift ourselves up and empower ourselves to strive forward during this final chapter of Jewish history. • • • • • Rabbi Travis is a rosh kollel of Kollel Toras Chaim in Yerushalayim, and is the author of Shaylos U'Teshuvos Toras Chaim and "Praying With Joy - A Daily Tefilla Companion," a practical daily guide to improving one's prayers, available from Feldheim Publishers. Rav Shternbuch's weekly shiurim on the parsha, compiled and edited by Rabbi Travis, are now available as a sefer titled "A Voice in the Darkness." For more information about his work, contact dytravis@actcom.com.
TEASER
The same destruction that is a reason to mourn can simultaneously be viewed in a different and more positive light.
So I thought this week, I'd share with you a piece of another interview for that segment. This time, the subject is John Palfrey, Harvard Law School professor, co-director of Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet & Society, and author of "Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives."
David Pogue: What experience do you bring to the Internet rumors issue?
John Palfrey: I study, in particular, how young people use technology, how they relate to one another. And one of the big things is they've moved their social lives, by and large, online. Places like Facebook and on services like Twitter, they're spreading a lot of information, including rumors about one another.[...]
A proposed ordinance in Memphis, Tenn., that would ban discrimination against gays is causing outrage among some local critics who say the ordinance itself would be discriminatory -- against people who oppose homosexuality because of their religious beliefs.
A proposed ordinance in Memphis, Tenn., that would ban discrimination against gays is causing outrage among some local critics who say the ordinance itself would be discriminatory -- against people who oppose homosexuality because of their religious beliefs.
"It's going to discriminate against people of faith who are Christians in their worldview, and I believe with all my heart that they have rights too," says Bellevue Baptist Church Pastor Steven Gaines. [...]
North Korea, like Cuba, is a country suspended in time, one that exists off modernity’s grid. It’s a place where the cold war never ended, where the heirloom paranoia is taken down and polished daily.
Korea’s cold war chill is heating up. Four months ago a South Korean warship was sunk, and a South Korean-led international investigative team concluded that North Korea was responsible. Next week the United States and South Korea will begin large-scale naval exercises off the coasts of the Korean Peninsula and Japan in a show of force.
The world will be watching, and here’s a book that American policymakers may hope it won’t be reading: Bruce Cumings’s “Korean War,” a powerful revisionist history of America’s intervention in Korea. Beneath its bland title, Mr. Cumings’s book is a squirm-inducing assault on America’s moral behavior during the Korean War, a conflict that he says is misremembered when it is remembered at all. It’s a book that puts the reflexive anti-Americanism of North Korea’s leaders into sympathetic historical context. [...]
"Matt Thomas" (a pseudonym) had only recently begun experimenting with marijuana when he got caught selling a few joints in the bathroom at his junior high school. It was no big deal, Thomas thought, especially considering that his parents — an investment banker and a homemaker — smoked pot too.
But Thomas' grades had already begun to slip, perhaps because of his increasing alcohol and marijuana use; that, coupled with his drug-dealing offense, was enough for the school to recommend that his parents place him in an inpatient drug-treatment program. Thomas, then 13, was sent to Parkview West, a residential rehab center located a few miles from his suburban Minneapolis home. (See pictures of teens in America.)
But rather than encouraging sobriety, Thomas says, his seven-week stint at Parkview West helped trigger a decades-long descent into severe addiction — from regular marijuana user to daily drinker to cocaine and methamphetamine addict. "It was [in rehab] that they told me that I was a drug addict and an alcoholic," says Thomas. "There was no turning back. The whole event solidified and created this notion in my own mind and in my social status. Who I was, was an alcoholic and drug addict." [...]
Four years ago, Stacy Snyder, then a 25-year-old teacher in training at Conestoga Valley High School in Lancaster, Pa., posted a photo on her MySpace page that showed her at a party wearing a pirate hat and drinking from a plastic cup, with the caption “Drunken Pirate.” After discovering the page, her supervisor at the high school told her the photo was “unprofessional,” and the dean of Millersville University School of Education, where Snyder was enrolled, said she was promoting drinking in virtual view of her under-age students. As a result, days before Snyder’s scheduled graduation, the university denied her a teaching degree. Snyder sued, arguing that the university had violated her First Amendment rights by penalizing her for her (perfectly legal) after-hours behavior. But in 2008, a federal district judge rejected the claim, saying that because Snyder was a public employee whose photo didn’t relate to matters of public concern, her “Drunken Pirate” post was not protected speech.[...]
Lawyers for the Arab man convicted of rape by deception and sentenced to 18 months in prison, say they are considering an appeal to the High Court of Justice.
Sabbar Kashur, 30, had consensual sex with a woman after he posed as a Jewish bachelor interested in a long-term relationship.
When the woman found Kashur was not a Jew but an Arab, she filed a police complaint that led to charges of rape and indecent assault.
This prompted Congress to pass the Communications Decency Act in 1996. The Act contains deceptively simple language under the heading "Protection for Good Samaritan blocking and screening of offensive material":
No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.
Section 230 further provides that "[n]o cause of action may be brought and no liability may be imposed under any State or local law that is inconsistent with this section."
Websites Covered by Section 230
Is an "interactive computer service" some special type of website? No. For purposes of Section 230, an
"interactive computer service" means any information service, system, or access software provider that provides or enables computer access by multiple users to a computer server.
Most courts have held that through these provisions, Congress granted interactive services of all types, including blogs, forums, and listservs, immunity from tort liability so long as the information is provided by a third party.
As a result of Section 230, Internet publishers are treated differently from publishers in print, television, and radio. Let's look at these difference in more detail.[...]
ISTANBUL — The Turkish charity that led the flotilla involved in a deadly Israeli raid has extensive connections with Turkey’s political elite, and the group’s efforts to challenge Israel’s blockade of Gaza received support at the top levels of the governing party, Turkish diplomats and government officials said.
The charity, the Humanitarian Relief Foundation, often called I.H.H., has come under attack in Israel and the West for offering financial support to groups accused of terrorism. But in Turkey the group has helped Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan shore up support from conservative Muslims ahead of critical elections next year and improve Turkey’s standing and influence in the Arab world.[...]
On Monday, Germany banned the charity’s offices, citing its support for Hamas, which Germany considers a terrorist organization. Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière said the charity abused donors’ good intentions “to support a terrorist organization with money supposedly donated for charitable purposes.” The newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung said that from 2007 the charity collected $8.5 million and transferred money to six smaller organizations, two belonging directly to Hamas and four with close ties to it.[...]
A friend who teaches at a well-known eastern university told me recently that plagiarism was turning him into a cop. He begins the semester collecting evidence, in the form of an in-class essay that gives him a sense of how well students think and write. He looks back at the samples later when students turn in papers that feature their own, less-than-perfect prose alongside expertly written passages lifted verbatim from the Web.
“I have to assume that in every class, someone will do it,” he said. “It doesn’t stop them if you say, ‘This is plagiarism. I won’t accept it.’ I have to tell them that it is a failing offense and could lead me to file a complaint with the university, which could lead to them being put on probation or being asked to leave.”
Not everyone who gets caught knows enough about what they did to be remorseful. Recently, for example, a student who plagiarized a sizable chunk of a paper essentially told my friend to keep his shirt on, that what he’d done was no big deal. Beyond that, the student said, he would be ashamed to go home to the family with an F.[...]
[...]An official response from the Takana forum was not available yesterday. But Rabbi Yuval Cherlow, a Takana member involved in the Elon probe, told Haaretz, "The first obligation contained in the Torah and religious law is the one applying to the wounded; the question of Rabbi Elon's qualifications is secondary. That's the starting point from which Takana operated. The forum's mission and public role is, first and foremost, to care for the victims - that's what we do." Cherlow added: "I very much respect Rabbi Dichovsky, and I imagine he knows all of the details" [of the suspicions against Elon]. Elon's adviser Rimon said he "is at home in Migdal and has yet to decide on the matter."
I don’t know what I’ve done wrong,” the patient told me.
She was an intelligent and articulate woman in her early 40s who came to see me for depression and anxiety. In discussing the stresses she faced, it was clear that her teenage son had been front and center for many years.
When he was growing up, she explained, he fought frequently with other children, had few close friends, and had a reputation for being mean. She always hoped he would change, but now that he was almost 17, she had a sinking feeling.[...]
In 2008, Dr. Khoruts, a gastroenterologist at the University of Minnesota, took on a patient suffering from a vicious gut infection of Clostridium difficile. She was crippled by constant diarrhea, which had left her in a wheelchair wearing diapers. Dr. Khoruts treated her with an assortment of antibiotics, but nothing could stop the bacteria. His patient was wasting away, losing 60 pounds over the course of eight months. “She was just dwindling down the drain, and she probably would have died,” Dr. Khoruts said.
Dr. Khoruts decided his patient needed a transplant. But he didn’t give her a piece of someone else’s intestines, or a stomach, or any other organ. Instead, he gave her some of her husband’s bacteria.
Dr. Khoruts mixed a small sample of her husband’s stool with saline solution and delivered it into her colon. Writing in the Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology last month, Dr. Khoruts and his colleagues reported that her diarrhea vanished in a day. Her Clostridium difficile infection disappeared as well and has not returned since. [...]
CHICAGO — Your doctor could be drunk, addicted to drugs or outright incompetent, but other physicians may not blow the whistle.
A new survey finds that many American physicians fail to report troubled colleagues to authorities, believing that someone else will take care of it, that nothing will happen if they act or that they could be targeted for retribution.
A surprising 17 percent of the doctors surveyed had direct, personal knowledge of an impaired or incompetent physician in their workplaces, said the study's lead author, Catherine DesRoches of Harvard Medical School. [...]
WESTVLETEREN, Belgium — Behind an aggressive investigation of the Roman Catholic hierarchy in Belgium that drew condemnation from the pope himself lies a stark family tragedy: the molestation, for years, of a youth by his uncle, the bishop of Bruges; the prelate’s abrupt resignation when a friend of the nephew finally threatened to make the abuse public; and now the grass-roots fury of almost 500 people complaining of abuse by priests.
The first resignation of a European bishop for abusing a child relative came unexpectedly on April 23. At 73, the Bruges bishop, Roger Vangheluwe, Belgium’s longest-serving prelate, tersely announced his retirement and acknowledged molesting “a boy in my close entourage.”
The boy, not named, was his own nephew, now in his early 40s.
MIDDLE SCHOOL students are champion time-wasters. And the personal computer may be the ultimate time-wasting appliance. Put the two together at home, without hovering supervision, and logic suggests that you won’t witness a miraculous educational transformation.
Still, wherever there is a low-income household unboxing the family’s very first personal computer, there is an automatic inclination to think of the machine in its most idealized form, as the Great Equalizer. In developing countries, computers are outfitted with grand educational hopes, like those that animate the One Laptop Per Child initiative, which was examined in this space in April. The same is true of computers that go to poor households in the United States.
Economists are trying to measure a home computer’s educational impact on schoolchildren in low-income households. Taking widely varying routes, they are arriving at similar conclusions: little or no educational benefit is found. Worse, computers seem to have further separated children in low-income households, whose test scores often decline after the machine arrives, from their more privileged counterparts.[...]
I am a straight woman, and I was set up on a date with a man. We got along well initially, but I grew concerned about how evasive he was about his past. I did some sophisticated checking online — I do research professionally — and discovered that he is a female-to-male transgender ed individual. I then ended our relationship. He and I live in Orthodox Jewish communities. (I believe he converted shortly after he became a man.) I think he continues to date women within our group. Should I urge our rabbi to out this person? [...]
What do you do if your child is traumatized by online bullying? And what can be done to help bullies understand the impact of their actions? Those are among the questions about cyberbullying readers asked our expert, Elizabeth K. Englander. Dr. Englander is a professor of psychology and the founder and director of the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center at Bridgewater State College, which provides anti-bullying and anti-violence training programs and resources to schools and families.[...]
CNN on Wednesday removed its senior editor for Middle Eastern affairs, Octavia Nasr, from her job after she published a Twitter message saying that she respected the Shiite cleric the Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, who died on Sunday.
Ms. Nasr left her CNN office in Atlanta on Wednesday. Parisa Khosravi, the senior vice president for CNN International Newsgathering, said in an internal memorandum that she “had a conversation” with Ms. Nasr on Wednesday morning and that “we have decided that she will be leaving the company."
Ms. Nasr, a 20-year veteran of CNN, wrote on Twitter after the cleric died on Sunday, “Sad to hear of the passing of Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah … One of Hezbollah’s giants I respect a lot.”
Aderet (Me’ane Eliyahu #32 1895): A disgusting event occurred here in the Mir community. A young man, the son of the tailor, fell in love with a servant…however she was not interested in him and rejected him. One Shabbos night after the meal, she went for a walk with one of her relatives outside the city and he accompanied them. When they were far from other people, they were suddenly attacked by two young men. These assailants threatened to stab the two men who had accompanied her - if they attempted to put up any resistance. Out of fear for their lives the two men who had accompanied her ran away – and she was left alone with the assailants. They grabbed her and raped her – despite her struggling against them with all her strength they overpowered her. They severely beat her despite her screams for help. After the brazen assailants fled, the two young men returned to her and brought her wounded and beaten to a doctor for treatment. The community was outraged by this act. Her relatives wanted to press charges with the police so that the assailants should be properly punished. They came to me and I spoke with them to quiet the matter so that it should not disgrace the Jews in the eyes of the non‑Jews by the wanton act of our youth that they would rape, transgress Shabbos and threaten to kill. There was also the danger that could result from going against these brazen youth. The relatives listened to me and did not go to the police. However it seemed that the whole thing was plotted by the youth that was in love with her. He apparently hoped that by degrading her she would finally accept him. Therefore an agreement was worked out with the relatives of the girl, this youth and the relatives of her assailants. The rapist would pay 100 rubles as a dowry, the youth who loved her would marry her as soon as possible lest he find her disgusting because of the rape. Finally the father of the youth signed a promissory note to provide two hundred ruble only after they got married. However a question arose how she could get married immediately since the halacha seemed to require that she needed to wait 3 months to make sure that she wasn’t pregnant from the rapist….
They're separated by thousands of miles, but they share a common controversy: Mosques.
Murfreesboro, Tenn., has joined a growing list of midsized towns in the U.S. that are embroiled in conflicts over proposed mosques being built or bought in their neighborhoods.
Including Murfreesboro, residents have risen up against mosques in two other Tennessee towns; in Staten Island, N.Y.; Sheboygan County, Wis.; and the Sheepshead Bay neighborhood of Brooklyn, as well as the proposed mosque and Islamic Cultural Center near Ground Zero, which has garnered some of the most heated battles.[...]
