Israel dominates the new Middle East

Washington Post   by Fareed Zakaria    In a thorough 2010 study, “The Arab-Israeli Military Balance,” Anthony Cordesman and Aram Nerguizian document how over the past decade Israel has outstripped its neighbors in every dimension of warfare. The authors attribute this to Israel’s “combination of national expenditures, massive external funding, national industrial capacity and effective strategy and force planning.” Israel’s military expenditures in 2009 were about $10 billion, which is three times Egypt’s military spending and larger than the combined defense expenditures of all its neighbors — Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. (This advantage is helped by the fact that Israel receives $3 billion in military assistance from Washington.)

But money doesn’t begin to describe Israel’s real advantages, which are in the quality and effectiveness of its military, in terms of both weapons and people. Despite being dwarfed by the Arab population, Israel’s army plus its high-quality reservists vastly outnumber those of the Arab nations. Its weapons are far more sophisticated, often a generation ahead of those used by its adversaries. Israel’s technology advantage has profound implications on the modern battlefield. [...]

These are the realities of the Middle East today. Israel’s astonishing economic growth, its technological prowess, its military preparedness and its tight relationship with the United States have set it a league apart from its Arab adversaries. Peace between the Palestinians and Israelis will come only when Israel decides that it wants to make peace. Wise Israeli politicians, from Ariel Sharon to Ehud Olmert to Ehud Barak, have wanted to take risks to make that peace because they have worried about Israel’s future as a Jewish and democratic state. This is what is in danger, not Israel’s existence.

Terror attack: Tel Aviv bus blown up - 16 wounded

Times of Israel   A bus in central Tel Aviv was blown up in a terror attack at around noon on Wednesday — the first bombing attack in the city since April 2006. At least 16 people were injured in the bombing, three of them in serious condition.

Hamas claimed responsibility for the blast, according to reports from Gaza, and celebratory gunfire was heard in the Strip as the bombing was reported on the radio.

‘Safe rooms’ save lives in two direct rocket strikes

Times of Israel   If, as rumors had it, Israel and Hamas were close to a ceasefire deal on Tuesday evening, it was not apparent to the residents of Ashdod, Ashkelon and Rishon Lezion. All three towns were pounded by rocket fire from Gaza and all sustained direct hits — an unhappy first for Rishon, and a sadly familiar blight for Ashdod and Ashkelon. Beersheba, the rocket-battered capital of the Negev, for its part, sustained 30 rockets in two hours earlier in the day — including a direct hit on a home — with no serious injuries.

Stas Misezhnikov, Israel’s tourism minister, stood outside a devastated apartment building in Rishon, his home town, and spoke of “an absolute miracle that no one was killed here.” The owner and his wife were in the apartment on the sixth and top floor when it was hit — taking refuge, as the Home Front Command requires, in the “safe room” that is legally required in modern apartment buildings. The rocket smashed directly into the apartment, “exactly where they were sitting,” said Misezhnikov, “and yet they came out alive.”

Home owner Amir emerged a little later, indeed, to say, with remarkable stoicism, “we followed the instructions. We heard the huge explosion. We knew the house had been hit. We came out; really, everything was destroyed. I calmed my wife, and we walked downstairs.”

The rocket — said to be carrying 90 kilograms of explosives — penetrated through three floors of the building, causing immense damage, but no serious injuries, because all the residents were in their safe rooms.

Central Park Rape: Damage of false convictions

NYTimes    Exiled from New York, his hometown, Mr. McCray was last seen in public two decades ago as a skinny 16-year-old, practically drowning in a suit that he wore to the Manhattan courthouse where he was tried on charges that he was part of a mob that raped a jogger in Central Park and beat her nearly to death in April 1989. In the television news footage, he often held his mother’s hand as he walked past screaming demonstrators. 

With four other Harlem boys, all of whom refused plea bargains, he was convicted of attacking the jogger and sent to prison. More than a decade later, the convictions of all five were overturned. Another man — a serial rapist and killer who was unknown to any of the five — had convincingly implicated himself as the sole attacker of the jogger. DNA evidence backed his story.[....]

The film lays out the intricacies of the case, the sights and sounds of a brittle era; it will be full of revelations for those who never knew about the crime and how its life-bending effects were multiplied as the wrong people were prosecuted while the right man continued to maim, murder and rape on the Upper East Side.

Prominent London rabbi resigns in sex scandal

Times of Israel   A leading British rabbi accused of sexual misconduct stepped down from most of his public positions Monday night, following extensive attempts to oust him, The Times of Israel has learned.

Rabbi Chaim Halpern, who is considered one of London’s most senior Haredi leaders, has left Kedassia, the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations, where he was a religious judge. He is still the head of his Golders Green synagogue, Beis Hamedrash Divrei Chaim, in the heart of Jewish London, but will no longer act as the rabbinic adviser to Beis Yaacov Primary School, the Hatzolah emergency medical service or Chana, an infertility charity.

Accusations that he had engaged in “inappropriate” contact with at least one woman surfaced during the high holidays, in October, when a local rabbi confronted him and tried to drive him from the neighborhood. Since then, sources say that about 30 women, most of whom had gone to Halpern for counseling, have also made allegations, and several have apparently given statements to a solicitor at Teacher Stern, a top London legal firm. The London Metropolitan Police are still assessing whether the claims warrant a criminal investigation.[...]
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See also the Jewish Chronicle

Iron Dome - how it works

Reuters - additional information

Babysitter gets 80 years for deadly day care fire

USA Today A Texas woman was sentenced to 80 years Tuesday for her felony murder conviction in the death of one of four children killed in a fire at her home day care in Houston.

Jessica Tata, 24, was convicted last week in connection with the death of 16-month-old Elias Castillo. Authorities say Elias was one of seven children whom Tata left unsupervised at her home while she went to a nearby Target store. Prosecutors say she left a pan of oil cooking atop a stovetop burner and that this ignited the February 2011 blaze. Three other children were seriously injured.

Along with the prison sentence, Tata was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine.

Sirens sound again in Jerusalem today

 Today the sirens in Jerusalem sounded at 2 p.m. - just after I got off the light train in front of city hall. There was no panic - much like a sudden rain storm - with everyone crowding into nearby store fronts. On the one hand the Palestinians are destroying their own existence in order to irritate the Jews but at the same time the Jews are over reacting. I head yesterday that there are Seminary Girls who are going back to America because they had to go to a bomb shelter on Shabbos. There are yeshiva guys who have left - because they don't want to be in a "war zone." I remember back a decade ago when we had the Gulf War and frumma Yidden were crowding Ben Gurion airport to get out from the rain of missiles. The gedolim said, "the chareidim have always claimed that they don't need to serve in the army because their learning is a greater shield against rockets. But now when things get dangerous our brothers and sisters are deserting us." There were roshei yeshiva who were so furious at this betrayal - that they said whoever leaves during war time should never come back

Arutz 7   A rocket exploded in an open area near an Arab village in Gush Etzion around 2:15 p.m. as sirens wailed in Jerusalem during another barrage of rockets and missiles unleashed by Hamas.

The missile exploded in an open area, and no one was injured.

At least one missile was aimed at Jerusalem last week and reportedly exploded in an open area next to an Arab village in Gush Etzion, located south of the capital.

Jesse Friedman- was he wrongly convicted of abuse?

CBS    [See also Jewish Week]     Capturing the Friedmans A Long Island man who pleaded guilty to abusing youngsters 25 years ago says he was wrongly convicted and is now hoping for exoneration by the Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice.

Rice reopened the case in August 2010, but the man whose fate hangs in the balance, Jesse Friedman, explained exclusively to CBS 2′s Carolyn Gusoff on Wednesday why he knows he’s innocent.

“I’ve been waiting 25 years for an opportunity to prove my innocence,” Friedman said. [...]

Friedman served 13 years and is free now, but wants his name cleared. The Oscar-nominated documentary “Capturing the Friedmans” uncovered suggestive tactics used by police to elicit the flood of charges from children — tactics the court called flawed.

Now, Friedman’s legal team has set up a hotline, seeking new ledes in the old case. The hotline number is  516-660-4385 .

“The methods used for Jesse’s conviction and Jesse’s arrest was wrong and this is an opportunity to make it right,” private investigator Jay Salpeter said.

Friedman isn’t the only one now awaiting the DA’s decision. Some of the victims, now adults, stand by their claims that Jesse molested them.

Sal Marinello represented four of them.

“They were sexually abused during periods of time and they also indicated the son was involved,” Marinello said.

$123M settlement in Del. child abuse case

St Louis Post-Dispatch  A judge has approved a $123 million settlement in a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of young children who were sexually abused by former Delaware pediatrician Earl Bradley.

New Castle County Superior Court Judge Joseph Slights III issued his ruling Monday after holding a hearing last week.

The settlement resolves claims against a southern Delaware hospital where Bradley had physician privileges, the Medical Society of Delaware, and five physicians accused by the plaintiffs of not reporting suspicions about Bradley to authorities.

Maharal: Wife easily hurt if not treated as equal

Maharal (Bava Metzia 59a): Rav said that a person should always be carefully not to oppress his wife because she is sensitive and readily cries so it is easy to make her feel oppressed. Thus we see that it is only his wife that he needs to be exceedingly careful not to hurt her feelings since she is ruled by him and therefore is much more likely to cry than other people who are not so easily oppressed. In other words because his wife is under his control she is more likely to be hurt by his words and cry when he wrongs her. In contrast a non‑Jewish slave is by nature not so affected by oppression and even a female Jewish slave does not readily cry because she has accepted the servitude to her master. Furthermore a female slave was not created for the purpose of being under his domain. It is only the wife who was created to be under the rule of her husband and as it says (Bereishis 3:16), And he shall rule over you. Therefore when she is oppressed it has a very strong impact on her. Furthermore in truth a wife does not accept being ruled by her husband because she views herself as his equal. In contrast a slave fully accepts that his master rules over him and therefore is not impacted as much as a wife who views herself as important and therefore is devastated when she is not treated with care.

Rav Aharon Kotler zt”l – the Early Years

5towns jewish times part 1   By Rabbi Yair Hoffman part 2    part 3

Every so often, individuals emerge in Jewish history who, by dint of their personality and intellect, are able to literally change the topography of Jewish life.

One such person was Rav Aharon Kotler zt”l – the founder of Beth Medrash

Interestingly enough, although the name of Rav Aharon Kotler is well known in Torah circles, very little biographical information of his earlier life in Europe is actually available. This is especially true for the English reading public. In honor of the fiftieth yartzeit of Rav Kotler, the Five Towns Jewish Times is presenting much new biographical material in this mini-biography in a three part series. The information was culled from a wide range of sources including new documents available now.

BIRTH

Rav Aharon was born in the town of Sislevich or Svisloch in Belarus on the 2^nd of Shvat in 5652 (Sunday January 31, 1892 although in the Julian calendar used in Russia at the time it would have been Sunday, January 19, 1892). There are actually two towns with the name Svisloch, one lies 154 miles west of Minsk, the other lies 66 miles east of Minsk.

Rav Aharon was the fourth child of the famed Pinnes family, having two older brothers who passed away at young ages, and an older sister Malkah. His father, Rav Shneur Zalman Pinnes, was one of two of the Rabbonim of this community, which was in the Grodno section of Czarist Russia, not far from Minsk. The other Rav was Rav Mordechai Shatz the son of Rabbi Meir Yonah who had published a copy of the Baal HaIttur.

FAMILY

His father’s family had spent time in the town of Ilya, also in Belarus It was a town that produced a prodigious amount of Torah scholars. Rav Yitzchok Pinnes, Rav Aharon’s paternal uncle, became the Av Beis Din in Minsk.< They were both the children of Rav Moshe Pinnes. Rav Moshe Pinnes’ ancestor was Rav Yitzchok Pinnes who was the Av Beis Din of Minsk from 1819 until 1836.

SISLOVICH

Svisloch was originally, a moderately sized small town in the late 1700’s and early 1800’s with a population of between 200 and 300 people during these times.  The Jews of the town made their money primarily through trade of timber, grains and some real estate.  The town had fairs as well.  In 1830, a Great Fire destroyed most of the businesses, and the Jewish community had great difficulty recovering financially, as the fairs were no longer held. In 1850 there were about 970 Jewish residents in Svisloch. After four decades of economic stagnation, the Jews of Svisloch decided to specialize in the tanning industry. They invited German craftsmen, experts in the field, to assist them in setting up a tannery. It was very successful. Soon Svisloch had eight large tanneries and a number of smaller shops. The Jewish population more than doubled, and the Jews constituted two thirds of the residents of this town.

Jews came from the surrounding towns to work in Svisloch as well.  Conditions in the tanneries were not ideal for the workers There were tanners, tailors, shoemakers, carpenters. Many of the Jewish workers were not paid well and the Bund movement soon developed in Svisloch.

Sometime in 1895, Rav Aharon’s mother passed away. Rav Aharon was just three years old. As a young child many in his town sought to involve him in the new paths that were emerging in the society around them, and these individuals were not such a good influence on the young man, who was soon developing a reputation as being a remarkable prodigy.

China's biggest problem? Too many men

CNN   Throughout history, a surplus of young men often heralded violence. The American frontier earned its "Wild West" reputation for lawlessness because its towns overflowed with men, yet marriageable women were vanishingly rare. In The Chivalrous Society, historian Georges Duby argued that European expansionism, from the Crusades to colonialism, was fueled by a surplus of ambitious and aggressive young men with otherwise poor reproductive prospects.

China is already feeling the effects of so many bare branches. The economist Lena Edlund estimates that every one percent increase in the sex ratio results in a six percent increase in the rates of violent and property crime. In addition, the parts of China with the most male-biased sex ratios are experiencing a variety of other maladies, all tied to the presence of too many young men. Gambling, alcohol and drug abuse, kidnapping and trafficking of women are rising steeply in China.

The bare branch problem will be compounded as income inequality rises. China's Gini coefficient of income inequality has risen from less than 0.3, 25 years ago, to almost 0.5 today. On the Gini scale, 0 represents perfect equality while a score of 1 represents complete inequality.

It would be difficult to overstate the urgent need for China to emulate South Korea in eliminating sex-biased abortion and neglect.

But just as urgently, China needs creative large-scale solutions to the problems that unprecedented cohorts of bare branches will cause as they come of age over the next two decades. Those millions of disaffected young men will not only present a danger to themselves, but those living alongside them. And, as Hudson and den Boer have been arguing for some time, the bare branches will also make perfect fodder for political agitation, fundamentalism and possibly terrorism.

Is man born in sin? Tehilim 51:7

Tehilim(51:7):. Behold, I was shaped in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.

Rashi (Tehilim 51:7): Behold I was formed in transgression – So how could I not sin. The basis of my being formed was my parents sexual intercouse and through intercourse it is possible to be involved in a number of trangression. And alternative explanation, my principle formation was from male and female – both of them are full of sins. However there are other interprative readings to this verse and they do not conform to the subect matter of the verse.

Vayikra Rabbah (14:5): Another understanding of Vayikra (12:2), If a woman conceives and bears a male child...  Dovid alluded to this understanding in Tehilim (51:7), Behold I was formed in sin and in sin my mother conceived me. Rav Acha explained, Even if a person is the most pious of the pious – it is impossible that he doesn’t have an aspect of sin in him. Dovid said to G‑d, “Master of the Universe, did my father Yishai have the intention to bring me into the world – when he had intercourse with my mother. The fact is that he was only thinking about his own sexual enjoyment.The proof for my assertion is that after they both had satisfied their desires he turned his face in one direction and she turned her face in the opposite direction. And it was only You who caused every single drop of semen to enter.” This assertion is alluded to by Dovid in (Tehilim 27:10), For though my father and my mother deserted me, G‑d did gather me in.

Ibn Ezra (Tehilim 51:7): Behold – because of the lust which are planted in the heart of man  it is equivalent to “being formed in sin.” The reason is that at the moment of birth, the evil inclination (yetzer harah) is planted in the heart...

Redak(Tehilim 51:7): Behold in sin I was formed. The Ibn Ezra says it is because of the lust which is planted in man’s heart that is is equivalent to “being formed in sin.” The reason is that at the moment of birth the evil inclination is planted in the heart. However others say that this an allusion to Eve who did not give birth until after she had sinned. 

Alshich (Tehilim 51:7): Behold in sin I was formed – From the time it decreed that I should be born by means of the sin of Lot’s daughter who had an incestual relation with her father which is disgusting and terrible sin – but that is how I was formed. As it says in Bereishis Rabbah (50:16), “I found Dovid My servant” where was he found? In Sedom.  And in sin my mother conceived me  - that is referring to Ruth who is referred to as mother as it says in Bava Basra (91b)... she was the mother of the Davidic monarchy.  From the time when she got the idea of lying at the feet of Boaz which was the sin of chilul Hashem as we see in Ruth Rabbah (6:1) that Boaz prayed that no one would know that she came to the threshing floor. And You G‑d did not consider it bad since You knew the motivation was good.... 

Australia: Royal Commission to investigate abuse

ABC Australia This is a very important development - not only a royal commission on abuse - but acknowledging that resistance to investigate abuse is not only the Catholic Church but also police themselves.

EMMA ALBERICI, PRESENTER: We're joined now by Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox, the senior police officer who took a stand on the issue and called for a royal commission here on Lateline last week.

It was on this program that Inspector Fox first made the allegations that his investigations were hindered by interference from within the police force and within the Catholic Church.

Detective Fox has driven from Newcastle tonight to be with us again, and I thank you so much chief inspector Fox for coming in again.

PETER FOX, NSW POLICE: It's a pleasure, Emma.

EMMA ALBERICI: Now of course as we just mentioned, you were the one calling for this royal commission last week. You must be feeling quite vindicated.

PETER FOX: I don't think I was the only one. I just wanted to add my voice to the many thousands out there that were already calling out for it over the last decade and more. You know, when you've sat down with these people, I just don't feel that you can turn up and walk away and think, "Well, I've got so much knowledge about what's gone on," and walk off and have an easy conscience thinking, "I could have done more, but I didn't."

I've made the comment that the turning moment for me was a forum at Newcastle where Peter Fitzsimmons, the radio DJ from down here, made the comment, "Evil flourishes when good men do nothing." And I sort of felt that perhaps he was directly talking to me. And I thought, "Well I'm not prepared to sit back and keep my mouth zipped."

EMMA ALBERICI: Now it took obviously so much courage for you to come here and talk as candidly as you did last week. What's the reaction been from within your own police ranks?

PETER FOX: Mixed, I think as most people would expect. I have been inundated with fantastic calls from ex-police and current colleagues that are thrilled to bits with this happening. I've had calls from some police that I don't know, wanting to share their frustrations and stories with me.

Conversely there's also been the uglier side of it where - I don't want to go into it too deeply, but this is the end of my policing career. I realised that from the moment that I decided to speak out last week. As much as it's denied, the culture within the police force would never allow someone like me to move back into it. So, I've ...

New findings in how to survive stress

Time  Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) experts Dr. Steven Southwick and Dr. Dennis Charney investigate the power of resilience in their new book, Resilience: The Science of Mastering Life’s Greatest Challenges.

Recovering from a natural disaster takes physical and psychological strength, and as those attempting to rebuild their lives in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy are learning, it doesn’t hurt to have help. To better understand which tools help us to bounce back from trauma and cope with stress, Southwick, a psychiatry professor at Yale University, and Charney, a psychiatry professor at Mount Sinai Hospital, studied Navy SEALs, rape survivors, prisoners of war and others who overcame highly stressful situations with only minimal mental hardship. It turns out that these survivors share critical skills that can support anyone, even those who haven’t been professionally trained or naturally endowed with resilience, to better combat trauma. [...]

Another surprising factor involves being true to your own morals…
DC: It’s to embrace a personal moral compass,  develop a set of beliefs that very few things can shatter. That’s really important. It was very important to the POWs. They were being tortured, but their own set of beliefs about what was right [could] not be touched

SS:  I don’t think I was expecting that to be as powerful as it was. [But] one of the things often happens in highly stressful situations, particularly if someone else is injured or killed is that there’s a tremendous tendency to develop survivor guilt.

We’ve interviewed some medal-of-honor winners.  They are the bravest of the brave. There are only some 200 of them in the U.S.  No one could do more.  But the few we interviewed in depth, they have survivor guilt. They felt that they should have done more. [So] that’s going to happen no matter what you do and you don’t want to add to that if you violate some principle you think is important.

What role do religion and spiritual beliefs play in resilience?
DC: That comes under a moral compass. Some develop strong beliefs independent of religion and others find it very helpful. It’s not important for everybody but for some people, it’s very important. When we studied [those in poverty] in  DC, who were largely African American, religion was very important. Going to services was very useful for establishing social networks,  in addition to the core beliefs. It adds to the other elements.  Some of the POWs found religion to be very important,  but not every one of them.[...]

What can parents do to help their children become resilient?
SS: [As a parent] you are affecting and molding the way your child’s stress hormones and nervous system will respond in the future. It’s very plastic and you are, by the type of stress you’re exposing them to and the way you respond, [helping shape] the degree to which they will master it or not. This  affects how the stress response will work in adulthood.

The problem is either neglect or over-parenting. You want to be the helicopter swooping down and fixing it, but then the child doesn’t learn how to meet these challenges. You have to really know where is ‘out of the comfort zone’ and where they flip into an inability to [cope] and become overwhelmed. And people are so different and so unique. I love the term ‘Good-enough Mother’ from the [child psychiatrist] D.W. Winnicott. You just need to be good enough.

Arayos: Why prohibit marriage of relatives?

Ramban (Vayikra 18:6): Concerning all near of kin to him, he should not approach them to uncover their nakedness The reason for prohibition of sexual relations with certain relatives is not stated explicitly. The Rambam (Moreh Nevuchim 3:49) says it is to reduce sexual activity and to make it less attractive and that he should be satisfied with little. These types of women which are prohibited by the Torah are those that are more likely to be present and available to him. And this reason the Rambam applies to all of them. The Ibn Ezra writes something similar that since the lust of a man is like that of an animal therefore it is not reasonable to prohibit all women. What is prohibited were those women who are present all the time. However this is a very weak explanation to say that the Torah makes a person liable for kares simply because they are with him on occasion and at the same time permit a man to marry hundreds and thousands of women. Why should it be harmful if he just marries his daughter as is permitted to non-Jews (Sanhedrin 58 :) or two sisters like Yaakov did? In fact there is no more appropriate person to marry than his daughter to an older son and then they will keep the inheritance in the family and will have children in his house in order that the land not be waste and the lust will quieted. The fact is we don’t have a traditional explanation concerning this. However according to logic there must be a deep secret of creation regarding his soul and this is included in the secret of incarnation which has already been alluded to. You should know that sexual intercourse is something which is disgusting and despised in the Torah – except for the purpose of propagating the species. If the relation doesn’t lead to children it is prohibited. Similarly that which doesn’t preserve the species and isn’t successful is also prohibited by the Torah. This is the reason for the Torah views on intercourse with relatives... Thus later on in verse 17 it says that intercourse with relatives is wickedness. In other words it is not properly marriage because it won’t be successful but represents simply evil lustful thoughts. In fact sexual prohibitions are included as statutes which are things which the king decree. And the decrees are things which occur to the king who wise in the conduct of his kingdom and he knows what is needed. And that which is beneficial he commands and he doesn’t reveal to his people except for his wise men and advisors.

Rav S. R. Hirsch (Bereishis 2:24): This verse – according to our Sages – alludes to the halachos of arayos for Bnei Noach (Sanhedrin 57b). The verse says, “Therefore a man should leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife...” This can be understood to mean that a man should distance himself from his father and mother – in other words when chosing his wife he should not seek a wife amongst his closest blood relatives. Perhaps if we examine this verse in the context of what preceded it – as suggested by its opening with “and therefore” - we can have at least a partial clarification of the reasons for the apparently inexplicable laws of arayos. The role of the wife is to be the helper (ezer) to the husband and as a result she must be compatible with him (kenegdo) and that means that she needs to complement him and therefore she must have different characteristics than her husband. In fact if they are too similar that would mean they would not only have the same virtues and but also the same faults. Thus if they got married it would only serve to reinforce the characteristics of both – whether for the good or bad. But marriage would not lead to perfection since they do not complement each other. Thus the possiblity of perfection through being complementary is only if they are not too similar and in fact have distinctly different characteristics. It is only due to having different characteristics that their joining together has the potential to produce perfection. Thus not marrying blood relatives increases the likelihood for finding a complementary mate. However this explanation of arayos only is relevant for the arayos of Bnei Noach which are based entirely on blood relatives. In contrast the arayos for a Jew are also based on kinship through marriage. Such arayos requires a higher level of explanation.

Kli Yakar (Vayikra 18:6): The reason for the prohibition of arayos according to the Rambam is in order to reduce the amount of sexual intercourse. Since these prohibited women are relatives of his and thus they are always with him. The Ramban refutes this view by noting that the Torah in fact allows a person to have thousands of wives. Therefore the Ramban concludes that the reason is a secret. Perhaps that is why the verse concludes “I am G‑d.” In other words G‑d says that He is the only one who knows the reason for this matter while to humans it is a statute.

3 accused of swindling millions from government

YNet   Police and Tax Authority officers raided the homes of three haredi men Monday, who according to suspicion swindled the State out of millions of shekels.

The three are suspected of defrauding the Education Ministry into funding their fictitious association, supposedly schooling several hundred girls. 

The fictitious association listed students who were actually attending another school, which never applied for financial support by the Education Ministry, as it does not recognize the State's authority.


An indictment in a similar case was filed with the Jerusalem District Court on Monday, against 10 suspects. The men are accused of laundering NIS 48 millions (roughly $12.2 millions) through fictitious haredi associations.

Hurricane Sandy Reveals a Life Unplugged

NYTimes   BLANK screens. Cellphones on the fritz. Wii games sitting dormant in darkened rec rooms. For a swath of teenagers and preteens on the East Coast, the power failures that followed Hurricane Sandy last month represented the first time in their young lives that they were totally off the grid, without the ability to text, play Minecraft, video-chat, check Facebook, or send updates to Twitter. 

If they wanted to talk to a friend, they had to do it in person. If their first post-storm instincts were to check a weather app, they resigned themselves to battery-run radios.

As the full scope of the storm’s damage became obvious, it was clear these inconveniences were hardly grave. And because most children, and adults, eventually found some kind of connection via an unaffected neighbor (or Starbucks), the withdrawal was often more of a tech diet than a total fast. 

But the storm provided a rare glimpse of a life lived offline. It drove some children crazy, while others managed to embrace the experience of a digital slowdown. It also produced some unexpected ammunition for parents already eager to curb the digital obsessions of their children.

Rav Wolbe: Psychiatry and Religion

Hebrew Books בשבילי הרפואה  #5 page 59-90 5742  

Living with convicted sex offenders in your community

Haaaretz   In 2006 the Knesset passed the Public Protection from Sex Offenders Law, the first of its kind in the country. Its main provisions were to mandate an assessment, prior to parole, of the threat posed to the community by each convicted sex offender, and to establish a monitoring unit. This year an amendment providing for treatment and rehabilitation of sex offenders was passed. 

Plant's whereabouts became public knowledge when his wife registered their children for school. Last Friday morning dozens of neighbors gathered outside their building and prevented the family from going into their apartment. Plant charged at the group and made it very clear that he had no intention of backing down. Police officers who were dispatched to the scene explained to the residents that they could not prevent Plant and his family from living in the building, but in the end the Plants moved once again. 

Plant, 49, has served six separate prison terms for the same number of convictions for sexual offenses against minors. In the most recent, in 2006, he was sentenced by the Rehovot Magistrate's Court to seven years for performing indecent acts on nine underage girls while pretending to be an instructor of Capoeira, a Brazilian martial art that combines dance and music. 

The sex-offender monitoring agency established under the 2006 law and known as the Tzur unit, has broad powers that can include surveillance operations, surprise visits, frequent phone calls and visits with parole officers, as well as almost around-the-clock supervision and approval prior to an offender's hiring at a new place of work. 

Israel maintains a registry of convicted sex offenders, to which all of them must report their home address prior to their release from prison. But in contrast to many countries, most notably the United States, Israel's registry is classified. The authorities oppose moves to make the records public, in part out of fear of widespread violence against offenders living in the general community.

תשובת רביד נגר לאישה שנפגעה מהתעללות חוללה סערה

kikarhashabat        הרב רביד נגר, מחזיר בתשובה מוכר, מחולל סערה כשהוא מתבטא בצורה שנויה במחלוקת

בתשובה לאישה שסיפרה בפורום אינטרנטי על אירוע בו התוקפה בנערותה על ידי גבר זר, ענה הרב כי מדובר בעניין של תיקון "העולם הזה הוא עולם של תיקון" אמר הרב

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"אני לא מבינה איך ה' יכול היה לעשות לי כזה דבר. כששאלתי רב באמת גדול ע"כ הוא אמר שזה התיקון שלי. אני כועסת על ה'. איך אפשר להגיד שזה התיקון שלי" שאלה האישה

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הרב נגר, בתשובה ארוכה מאוד, הגיב לשאלתה של האישה, אולם חלקים מתוכה הצליחו לגרום לסערה בכלי התקשורת.

הרב רביד נגר שפתח ב'אני ממש מצטער בשבילך', כתב לאישה: "למה ילד צריך להיוולד עם מום? למה יש תינוקות שנולדים מוגבלים? עיוורים? חרשים? למה? מה ה' אוהב להתעלל בילדים? אני בטוח שלא ! התשובה פשוטה ! העולם הזה הוא עולם התיקון ! עולם שבו אנחנו מתקנים את חטאי העבר , את החטאים שלנו בגלגולים קודמים , מי יודע מה את היית בגלגול הקודם? אולי היינו אלימים? אולי פגענו באנשים אחרים? כל זמן שאין לנו מושג מה היינו בגלגול הקודם , אין לנו שום זכות לשפוט את בורא עולם ! ה' רוצה שנתקן כדי שנזכה לגן עדן לנצח ! במקום שנסבול שנים של צער , ה' נותן לנו זכות לסבול כאן בעולם הזה כמה שנים בודדות וע"י כך הוא מציל אותנו ממאות שנות סבל בעליונים".

Obama’s Campaign Diminished the Presidency

Time  by Karen Hughes former counselor to President George W. Bush

Like many Republicans across the country, I woke up this morning deeply depressed, my mood soon matched by the falling stock market. I’m distressed not only by the outcome of the presidential election, but also because of the way it was won.

In stark contrast to the hope and optimism he stirred in 2008, this time, President Obama won ugly. During his first election, although I didn’t agree with his proposals or philosophy, I was among those who found myself inspired by the president’s call for our politics to be higher and better. Unfortunately, the way he has governed and the way he conducted this campaign undermined that central and hopeful promise.

I felt that I was watching a shrinking presidency as the campaign unfolded, with President Obama getting smaller each day. He often came across as peeved, petty and not presidential. On stage during the first debate he looked as if he wanted to be anywhere else, and his comments about his opponent were cutting and deeply personal. The final blow came with his comments in the final days to his supporters that “voting is the best revenge.” The mindset that comment reveals is deeply disturbing:  an election as a weapon to be wielded against our fellow Americans.

At its core, the central message I took away from the President’s re-election campaign was: Stick with me, we are inching forward and things could be a lot worse. Not exactly a hopeful agenda on which to build.

Nachalot abuse - case of hysteria & moral panic?

Times of Israel  This post is a response to “Nachlaot, where pedophiles roam free,” by Elana Kutscher. In it, I examine the main points made by Elana and analyze their validity.

Elana claims that there are pedophiles in Jerusalem’s Nachlaot neighborhood and that this was reported to the police over a year ago, but that the pedophiles are still there. The implication is that the police did not really do enough about the problem.

On the contrary, the police took immediate action as soon as they were notified about the initial suspected pedophile in November 2010. Afterwards, when neighborhood residents reported more suspects in the summer of 2011, the police again took action and arrested a group of suspects. If anything, the police were overzealous in their pursuit of potential suspects. They arrested several more individuals in January, 2012, simply because of public pressure, even though there was no substantive evidence.

She states that the police say this is the largest pedophile ring in the history of Israel, and that over 100 children have been abused.

In fact, the position of the police is that there is NOT a pedophile ring in Nachlaot at all – and there is not a ringleader. The police DO believe that there were pedophiles molesting children in Nachlaot, but that each one acted on an individual basis, and not as part of an organized group. The concept of a pedophile ring was the figment of the over-active imaginations of worried parents. They also claimed that this imaginary pedophile ring was producing movies of pedophilia for financial profit. No such movies were ever found. No forensic evidence of any sexual molestation was ever found either, even for those suspects who were indicted. The indictments were based entirely on the testimony of the children.

Not all the children who gave testimony were actually abused. Though more than 100 children testified that they were abused, much of that testimony was corrupted by the improper methods the parents used to obtain it. Some mothers went door to door, trying to convince as many parents as possible that their children were molested. The children were also shown pictures of the suspected pedophiles. [...]

Principal convicted of violating mandated reporting law

San Jose Mercury News   In a verdict hailed by child-abuse experts, a jury Monday found a principal guilty of the extremely rare charge of failing to report suspected sexual abuse to authorities, despite being told by an 8-year-old girl in vivid and explicit detail about a possible sexual act a teacher performed on her.

The conviction of former O.B. Whaley Elementary School principal Lyn Vijayendran was only the second time in two decades that Santa Clara County prosecutors had brought such a misdemeanor charge -- and the first time they'd won.

Vijayendran, 36, dabbed at her eyes with a tissue while the clerk read the guilty verdict.

She later wept when Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Deborah Ryan took the unusual step of immediately sentencing her.  [...]

In the end, the strongest evidence against the principal were her own notes from interviewing the child. The girl told the principal that Chandler blindfolded her in a room with no one else there, made her lie down on the classroom floor, told her to open her legs, touched her feet with something that felt like a tongue, inserted something gooey in her mouth and then wiggled her head around until she tasted a salty liquid. Chandler told Vijayendran that he called the girl into the classroom to prepare a lesson on Helen Keller, which he had been using for years.

Vigilantes protect Egyptian woman against abuse

NYTimes   The young activists lingered on the streets around Tahrir Square, scrutinizing the crowds of holiday revelers. Suddenly, they charged, pushing people aside and chasing down a young man. As the captive thrashed to get away, the activists pounded his shoulders, flipped him around and spray-painted a message on his back: “I’m a harasser.” 

 Egypt’s streets have long been a perilous place for women, who are frequently heckled, grabbed, threatened and violated while the police look the other way. Now, during the country’s tumultuous transition from authoritarian rule, more and more groups are emerging to make protecting women — and shaming the do-nothing police — a cause. 

The attacks on women did not subside after the uprising. If anything, they became more visible as even the military was implicated in the assaults, stripping female protesters, threatening others with violence and subjecting activists to so-called virginity tests. During holidays, when Cairenes take to the streets to stroll and socialize, the attacks multiply.

But during the recent Id al-Adha holiday, some of the men were surprised to find they could no longer harass with impunity, a change brought about not just out of concern for women’s rights, but out of a frustration that the post-revolutionary government still, like the one before, was doing too little to protect its citizens.

Divorce is no longer fashionable?

NYTimes   That a woman who has been divorced should feel such awkwardness and isolation seems more part of a Todd Haynes set piece than a scene from “families come in all shapes and sizes” New York, circa 2011. But divorce statistics, which have followed a steady downward slope since their 1980 peak, reveal another interesting trend: According to a 2010 study by the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia, only 11 percent of college-educated Americans divorce within the first 10 years today, compared with almost 37 percent for the rest of the population. 

For this cross section of American families — in the suburban playgrounds of Seattle, the breastfeeding-friendly coffee shops of Berkeley, Calif., and the stroller-trodden streets of the Upper West Side — divorce, especially for mothers with young children underfoot, has become relatively scarce since its “Ice Storm” heyday. 

For every cohort since 1980, a greater proportion are reaching their 10th and 15th anniversaries, said Stephanie Coontz, author of “Marriage, a History.”[...]

The experience of being a divorced woman has changed, along with the statistics. “The No. 1 reaction I get from people when I tell them I’m getting divorced is, ‘You’re so brave,’ ” said Stephanie Dolgoff, a 44-year-old mother of two elementary-school daughters who was separated last year. “In the 1970s, when a woman got divorced, she was seen as taking back her life in that Me Decade way. Nowadays, it’s not seen as liberating to divorce. It’s scary.”  [...]

“What happened?” asks the writer Claire Dederer in her memoir, “Poser,” which examines life as a new mother in Seattle. In the 1970s, “the feminists, the hippies, the protesters, the cultural elite all said, It’s O.K. to drop out.” In contrast, “We made up our minds, my brother and I and so many of the grown children of the runaway moms, that we would put our families first and ourselves second. We would be good, all the time. We would stay married, no matter what, and drink organic milk.”

Changes in marriage:Tragedy of Seridei Aish

I met Rav Nosson Kaminetsky tonight at a chasuna and asked him for some leads regarding changes in the nature of marriage. He reminded me of the following quote regarding the tragic experiences of the Rav Yechiel Yaakov Weinberg that he had written about.

Making of a Gadol by Rav Nosson Kaminetsky page 819:

page 816 - When describing the disaster he entered into, he wrote, "This shiddukh was forced upon me by the Alter of Slabodka and the heads and members of Yeshivath Kneseth Yisrael (emphasis added)./'' An article in ... reveals the background of the misatch between the Chekhanovtzer 'Iluy, R' Weinberg, and the simple, orphaned daughter of the Rav of the small Lithuanian town of Pilvishok. R' Weinberg had been "dabbling with the idea of leaving the yeshiva world for the world of the Haskalah. (R' Finkel) sensed that (R' Weinberg) was at a crossroads and aranged the shiddukh which would bring him the dowry of that town's rabbinic post" and thereby bind him to the Torah world. Weinberg Obituary cites the following from R' Weinberg's letter: "Being young, I submitted to [their guidance], and by that, I ruined the course of my life [...]. During my tenure as the Rav of Pilvishok, the Alter of Slabodka established in Pilvishok a kibbutz of select bahurim in order to enable me forget my pain and my travails through the toil of delivering shai'urim." R' Weinberg's reference to having "ruined... (his) life" goes beyond his personal happiness because, with his talents, he could have developed into the greatest Torah leader of his generation, as discussed in the fourth paragraph of the following excursus.

page 819 - It is possible, too, that the Alter, though expert in understanding what made people, especially the young, tick - in my father's opinion, he understood people better than Freud  - was out of step with the change in the relationship between mates which modem trends had wrought in Jewish society as a whole, even the Torah world, by the time R' Weinberg married. We may speculate that the Alter's own domestic arrangement, which my father from his latter-day perspective described as "terrifying '', could not have endured even among bnei Torah 40 years later. Shades of the generational dichotomy in outlooks on this matter may be found in a report of an exchange between the Alter and R' Weinberg which was reported by R' Shmuel-Hayyim Domb in the name of R' Yehiel-Yankev's talmid R' Pinhas Biberfeld: When the Alter tried to convince R' Weinberg not to separate from his wife, he responded, "Where is the drugstore which sells a potion for love?" It may be assumed that R' Weinberg's purpose in repeating this conversation to his talmid was to convey this very idea - that by making the attempt to get him to stay with his wife, the Alter had demonstrated that he did not grasp what degree of compatibility was expected between couples in the new times. Even the extreme forbearance that the Alter knew R' Weinberg was possessed of could not hold a relatively modem marriage together.

page 826 - Based on what R' Hayyim Sarna heard from his father, the Alter held that R' Weinberg would become the gedol hador (greatest[Torah leader] of [his] generation); "And he would have become that, but for his unfortunate marriage, ,'' R' Sarna said °. He explained: "In Lithuania only teamsters (...) got divorced any person of standing would, as my mother would say, 'eat nails (... [suffer])' and stick it out." [Rachel Sarna used another idiom, viz., "any person of standing would 'bite into the quilt [...,,, (probably meaning, clench one's teeth under the covers, in privacy)]'". The interviewee said further that R'Weinberg "had to leave Lithuania because of the divorce"...

Ex Penn State president charged in abuse coverup

NYTimes

 Former Penn State President Graham B. Spanier was charged Thursday with hushing up child molestation allegations against Jerry Sandusky, making him the third school official to be accused of crimes in the alleged cover-up. [...]

Spanier has said he had no memory of email traffic concerning the 1998 complaint — by a woman that Sandusky had showered with her son — and only slight recollections about the 2001 complaint — by a team assistant who said he stumbled onto Sandusky sexually abusing a boy inside a campus shower.

Ex-gays protest view that therapy doesn't work

NY Times   Mr. Smith is one of thousands of men across the country, often known as “ex-gay,” who believe they have changed their most basic sexual desires through some combination of therapy and prayer — something most scientists say has never been proved possible and is likely an illusion. 

 Ex-gay men are often closeted, fearing ridicule from gay advocates who accuse them of self-deception and, at the same time, fearing rejection by their church communities as tainted oddities. Here in California, their sense of siege grew more intense in September when Gov. Jerry Brown signed a law banning use of widely discredited sexual “conversion therapies” for minors — an assault on their own validity, some ex-gay men feel.

Signing the measure, Governor Brown repeated the view of the psychiatric establishment and medical groups, saying, “This bill bans nonscientific ‘therapies’ that have driven young people to depression and suicide,” adding that the practices “will now be relegated to the dustbin of quackery.” 

 But many ex-gays have continued to seek help from such therapists and men’s retreats, saying their own experience is proof enough that the treatment can work. 

College rape cases - unique difficulties

Time   The recent media swarm around an anguished report of rape at Amherst College, in Massachusetts, is understandable, especially when every day seems to bring another grotesque proclamation from a political figure appearing to minimize, or even justify, rape. But the gravity of sexual assault shouldn’t be an excuse to draw black-and-white conclusions about the problem of rape on college campuses.

Most rapes are hard to prosecute, in part because they rarely have witnesses, but college rapes on college campuses are an even bigger challenge because at least 90% of alleged rapes are between people who know each other (often boyfriends, ex-boyfriends, or current friends and acquaintances). College rapes also typically involve less physical evidence (like signs of physical struggle), and one or both parties are more likely to be intoxicated by alcohol, often making it hard for the alleged victim and assailant to recall or report a clear story. College-rape survivors sometimes delay reporting rape, as the Amherst survivor did, until they have concluded that they were in fact raped — an ambiguity that is much less common in the general population. [...]

Moreover, college students are adults with their own legal and moral agency; college officials are not compelled by law to report assaults to the police, as school administrators are for suspected cases of sexual abuse with minors. Campus sexual assaults are thus adjudicated in an often deeply unsatisfying he-said-she-said administrative process that can’t always establish truth, much less actual justice. As former Harvard College dean Harry Lewis noted in Excellence Without a Soul: How a Great University Forgot Education, “In rape cases there is often no middle ground … When one student is accused of raping another, the college cannot make everyone happy.”

Who is spending the night with your daughter?

In the posting about David Kaye the issue has been raised as to why he should be viewed as dangerous (i.e. rodef) when he has not done anything wrong halachically? He is obviously disgusting and not welcome - but should he also be considered dangerous  since he never did anything to harm another person and he has a life time of helping others. His major downfall was a sting operation by a TV. station involving what he thought was a 13 year old boy. The whole crime for which he was sent to prison is simply a mental fantasy - and some claim that only according to secular law is it wrong. In order to understand this better let me present the follow case.

You and your wife are leaving in an hour to celebrate your parent's golden anniversary in Florida - so you will be gone for one night.Your younger kids have been distributed to neighbors. However your 13 year old daughter says she is old enough to stay home for one night and says one of her friends is coming over to keep her company.

You do a last minute check on Google maps for traffic conditions and then a quick glance at email to see if there are any important last minute messages. With great irritation you notice that the email is still logged in to your daughter's account - but you also notice an email with a very inappropriate subject line. Pushing aside the concerns for Cherem of Rabbeinu Gershom of reading other's mails - you start reading the letter.

Shock and revulsion hit you as you realize that it is a letter from a 35 year old male who claims to be a rabbi. He has been having an exchange of very explicit sexual communications with your daughter. You notice the exchange has been very intensive and some of the emails have attached nude photographs of him and others which have pictures of her. The last email says he is coming over to spend the night with your daughter.

With your head spinning you think of what you should do in the 30 minutes before you have to leave.

 1) Call the rabbi of the shul where you go for daf yomi and who is a world-wide expert on kashrus. 2) confront your daughter and force her to come with you. 3) contact your next door neighbor who has mafia connections who will make sure the guy receives the proper message in a forceful unambiguous manner4) Do nothing since after all your daughter is halachically an adult and it is a consensual relationship. You give yourself a mental note to have a talk with your daughter - when you get back - about how inappropriate it is and that she is only a child and not old enough for these types of relationships. 5) Call the police

More single mothers are having children

Times of Israel   With studies showing American Jewish women marrying at older ages than ever, more and more Jewish women are confronting the choice of whether to become single moms while it’s still biologically possible, or to continue to gamble with those chances and wait for Mr. Right.

Many mothers say the decision is the hardest part. Can they raise a kid on their own? Will conservative-minded family or friends ostracize them? Later in life, will their child resent them for it?

Then there’s the cost. Aside from mothers shouldering the burden of being the sole provider, fertility treatments can cost anywhere from $10,000 to $50,000. In Israel, treatments are free for women to have two children.

Tehilla Blumenthal, an Israeli psychologist who wrote her doctoral dissertation on single Jewish mothers, says medical technology that has made it easier for older women to become pregnant has prompted a growing number of Jewish women to try single motherhood.

One 41-year-old Orthodox Jewish doctor in the New York area who recently gave birth to a set of twins through IVF said she was pleasantly surprised by how accepting her community has been.

Wife does intimate tasks for husband for endearment

A wife is obligated to do certain tasks for her husband for the sake of endearment. These tasks include pouring his cup, washing his face, hands and feet, making his bed, standing before him to attend to his wishes such as getting a drink and anoint him with oil.  There is a dispute as to whether these tasks are obligatory or optional. The Yerushalmi Kesubos (5:6) clearly holds they are obligatory for the wife to do them. Rashi (Kesubos 61a) and others hold that they are optional - simply advice that our Sages gave to increase the husbands liking of his wife. Simple question is what happened to these tasks. I have never seen a wife do these tasks for her husband. Even according to Rashi who says they are optional - but they are recommended in order to endear the wife to the husband. Furthermore if we say that according to the Rambam that when our Sages recommended something it becomes a command - then how can there be a dispute here whether these recommended tasks are obligatory?

Of greater importance why are these halachos not relevant. If this is a rabbinic decree as the Rambam and Shulchan Aruch seem to imply - then even if the reason for the decree are not relevant anymore - but the takanos are still active. In short you can't throw out halacha that way or ignore it. "kashrus is because of sanitation so it is not relevant" "Two day of Yom Tov because we didn't have accurate knowledge so it is not relevant today." "Divorce depending solely on husband's wishes is irrelevant to today" "Extra marital sex & incest is only for fear of having a baby whose father's identity is unknown or is a mamzer - not relvant today with birth control" "Mamzer is unfair and therefore not applicable today"  

There is really three issues here. 1) how could these obligations simply disappear? 2) They are reflective of and determine the nature of the relationship. If the values they reflect are Torah values then if we don't establish these values in the way described in Shulchan Aruch then how are they established? 3) If they are no longer considered Jewish values - what are the values in marriage and family relations?
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Kesubos (61a): If she has four slaves - she may lounge in an easy chair. Rav Huna said that even though they said she can lounge in an easy chair but she fills his cup and makes his bed and washes his hands and feet. Furthermore Rav Huna said that all the work that a wife does for her husband she also does it when she is a niddah – except for filling his cup, making his bed and washing his hands and his feet and making his bed. Rava said this restriction for a wife who is a nida is only if she does the work in his presence but he is not there then there is no problem.

Rashi (Kesubos 61a): But she fills his cup and makes his bed – to spread the sheet something which is not strenuous – since it an act of endearment in order that she be more beloved to him. Therefore it is not comparable to the making of the bed mentioned in the Mishna which involves considerable physical effort and she can be forced to do it. She is not forced to do these works of endearment but the Sages merely suggested them as good advice as to how Jewish wives should behave. Except for pouring his cup -  when she is a Nida then all activities which draw them closer and increase endearment are to be avoided because they can lead to prohibited sexual activity.

Yerushalmi Kesubos (5:6): Rav Huna said that even if he had 100 maidservants to do the housework, his wife would still be forced to do the intimate tasks for him. What are these intimate tasks that she must do? It is to anoint his body with oil, wash his feet, and pour his cup. Why should she be obligated to do these when they have so many servants? Is it because it is inappropriate for a maidservant to do these tasks for him or because she has to do them? The difference between these two views is if he has male slaves rather than maid servants then it would remove the concern that maid servants should do these tasks for him and if she still had to do them that would show that the reason is because it is a wife’s obligation to do these tasks...It seems more likely that in fact she must do them solely because it is her obligation to her husband. 

Rambam(Hilchos Ishus 21:3-4): 3) A husband who takes an oath to prohibit his wife not to do any work at all – is required to divorce her and give her the kesuba. That is because idleness causes immorality. Similarly every wife needs to wash her husbands face, hands, and feet as well as pour his cup and make his bed and to stand before him to serve him. Examples of her service are to give him water or a utensil or take things from him etc.,  However she does not stand and serve his father or his son. 4) These tasks need to be done by the wife herself – even if she has many servants – she alone is required to do them.
  

Shulchan Aruch (E.H. 80:4-5): 4) And similarly every woman is to wash her husband’s face, hands and feet and pour his cup and to make his bed. (Some say that she is obligated to make all the beds in the house). And she is to stand before him and serve him doing tasks such as giving him water or a utensil or taking things from him etc. However she does not stand and serve his his father or son (However some say that is only when she is not dependent for support from her husband). 5) These works need to be done by the wife herself – even if she has many servants – she alone is required to do them. (There is a dispute regarding making beds see E.H. 80:8).