Parental Alienation Can Be Emotional Child Abuse

 https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwil7c274870AhUHgP0HHa_ODHQQFnoECBgQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ncsc.org%2F__data%2Fassets%2Fpdf_file%2F0014%2F42152%2Fparental_alienation_Lewis.pdf&usg=AOvVaw0ZGRIggv2E0zCCyy--pBjv

Children who suffer from emotional abuse often elude the legal assistance of the child protection system. For example, this emotional abuse is usually invisible to teachers and social workers and even the family court judge. The alienated child will talk with the judge in language and syntax similar if not identical to the way the alienating parent talks. While the targeted parent often appears anxious,depressed, or angry, the alienating parent appears relaxed, composed, and, therefore, credible. 

ההורים מאושפזים במצב קשה; שני ילדיהם הובאו למנוחות

 https://www.kikar.co.il/406991.html

 התאונה הקטלנית: מאות רבות של בני משפחה וחברים ליוו אמש (מוצאי שבת) את שני הילדים הקטנים, הללי בת השש וטוב ראי בן השלוש, למשפחת מעודד, שנהרגו בתאונה הקשה ביום שישי ליד צומת עופרים בבנימין.

שני הילדים הקטנים הובאו לבית העלמין ברחובות יחד עם העובר שלא שרד את התאונה הקשה, בעוד ההורים, יניב והודיה מעודד, מאושפזים במצב קשה בבתי החולים בילינסון ושיבא, כשאינם יכולים ללוות את ילדיהם הקטינים בדרכם האחרונה.

מצבו של האב, התייצב מעט בסוף השבוע, אך הוא עדיין מורדם ומונשם בבית החולים.

9-year-old girl dies a day after West Bank car crash that killed her brother

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/9-year-old-girl-dies-a-day-after-west-bank-car-crash-that-killed-her-brother/

 Initial reports indicated the crash was caused by the Palestinian car, which illegally made a U-turn into oncoming traffic on Route 465 near the Ofarim Junction.

Eitan Biran returns to Italy after Supreme Court rejects appeal from mother’s family

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/eitan-biran-returns-to-italy-after-supreme-court-rejects-appeal-from-mothers-family/

Eitan Biran, a 6-year-old boy who was orphaned in a cable car crash in Italy, returned to the country on Friday, days after Israel’s Supreme Court rejected a final appeal from his Israel-based family.

Biran — who was living in Italy at the time of the cable car crash in May that killed his parents, his younger brother and his great-grandparents — has become the subject of a bitter custody fight between his Italy-based paternal family and his Israel-based maternal family.

A lawyer from the maternal family oversaw the transfer at the airport, where Biran was accompanied on the flight by his aunt and two cousins. 

Berland no longer under murder probe detention, but remains jailed in unrelated case

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/berland-no-longer-under-murder-probe-detention-but-remains-jailed-in-unrelated-case/

Rabbi Eliezer Berland arrives for a court hearing in Jerusalem, November 2, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Convicted sex offender Eliezer Berland was released on Thursday from remand after he was detained in connection with two cold case murders — but remains in prison to serve a sentence on unrelated charges.

Berland, the leader of the extremist Shuvu Bonim sect, has been implicated in the murder of 41-year-old Avi Edri in 1990 and the kidnapping and suspected murder of 17-year-old Nissim Shitrit in 1986. Police have accused Berland of sending his followers to kill Shitrit. His followers have also been tied to Edri’s death.

But on Thursday prosecutors said they would release Berland and his son-in-law, Tzvi Tzucker, as well as a third suspect — an unnamed Haredi mayor — under restrictions.

 

2 members of Berland’s sect charged over ‘extremely cruel’ 1986 murder of teen

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/2-members-of-berlands-sect-charged-over-extremely-cruel-1986-murder-of-teen/

Two followers of convicted sex offender Eliezer Berland’s Shuvu Bonim sect were charged on Friday in connection with the 1986 murder of a teen.

The two were indicted over the murder of 17-year-old Nissim Shitrit. His body was never found and Friday’s charges were the first made in connection with his death.

One of the suspects charged in the case is the son of a former minister. His name has not been released for publication. The second suspect was Baruch Sharvit, a Shuvu Bonim follower.

 

The Internet pandemic is plaguing Israel's haredi community

 https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/the-internet-pandemic-is-plaguing-israels-haredi-community-687707

While they believe that the physical threat from the health risk is manageable, the spiritual and communal risk of the Internet is existential. Indeed, the COVID crisis has exposed deepening cracks in the walled garden, so fundamental to haredi society. There has been a major increase on the Internet connectivity for haredim since the beginning of the COVID pandemic, leading to ever greater concerns from the leadership about how to protect their flock from outside and, in their perspective, wholly destructive influences.

Mi La'Shem Ai'lay

 Rabbosai,

As we approach Zos Chanukah, please help save Bnos Yisroel from the threat of a potential female Draft - in America - already included in the "must-pass" National Defense Authorization Act ("NDAA"). This terrible Gezairah al Ha'Das (antireligious edict) is not much different than the Hegmonite Gezairas HaYevonim that promted Yehudis to initiate the Maccabee uprising. And it's waiting for a vote in the U.S. Senate, any day now.

Due to the input of a numerous leftist Republicans - joining many Democrats - the NDAA, if passed as is, would require all women between 18 and 25 to register with Selective Service, just like men.  That means: IF there would EVER be a future draft - including a draft for non-combat "national emergency" purposes (another dangerous addition to this year's NDAA) - WOMEN WOULD BE DRAFTED - to serve ALONG WITH,  and under the command of the some of the lowest elements of society - in the name of "Equality." As degraded as society is now, it will likely be even worse in any future draft. [Imagine what type of Shidduch crisis THAT would cause.]  The time to stop this lunacy is NOW. By the time of any actual draft, it will be too late.

Additionally, even if there would NEVER be a draft, this bill would have several terrible immediate and short term effects, including:

(a) encouraging many other countries to follow suit; (b) acceleration of the ongoing efforts of the Israeli Draft Office to force, dupe, or convince religious girls to enlist in the notoriously immoral Army; (c) acceleration of radical feminism overall, and in religious communities as well; (d) it could also introduce the idea of Army service to innocent girls to whom such a option would never have occurred, e.g. many Bais Yaakov graduates.

גיוס בנות - הוא ביהרג ואל יעבור!

In the days of the saintly Chashmonoyim, noshim tzidkoniyos (righteous women) played a crucial role in the Heavenly victory of the Maccabees against the Hellenist and Greek enemies. (See Yalkut Shimoni 606 on Rus 4:11; Sotah 11b; Sefer Kav HaYashar 82.)

*********************

ACTION ITEMS:

*********************

(1) Today as well, it's crucial that ALL WOMEN AND GIRLS age 16 y/o & up urge their two Senators, and then their Congressional Representative, to immediately push for the REPEAL of "Selective Service" - Senate Amendment "S.A. 4161." Specifically, urge each SENATOR to do two things: 

(a) insist on allowing a vote for "Senate Amendment" SA4161 (Selective Service Repeal), and any similar amendments that arise,

(b) and then, of course, vote for it/ them.

Make sure to urge EVERY LEGISLATOR to oppose the NDAA in any way possible IF the leadership of EITHER party blocks  a vote on S.A. 4161, or a similar amendment - FOR AS LONG AS the expansion of Selective Service (to women, or for purposes other than replenishing troops dying in battle) remains in the NDAA.

(2) Secondly, it's crucial to demand Senator Charles Schumer (D, NY) allow enough debate time for  S.A.4161 and similar amendments; call 202-224-6542/ 212-486-4430. His delays are one major reason for the threats we now face. With a straight face, Schumer claims a connection to the Holy chassidus of Tchort'kov. If he insists on "talking the talk," let him at least pretend to "walk the walk" - by allowing debate on any amendment that would undo the expansion of Selective Service, and thereby save innocent women in the future from untold horrors, in addition to averting all of the short-term fallout of that provision of the current NDAA.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

(3) ADDITIONAL ACTION ITEMS NEEDED:

Also please urge the following Congressional leaders to "please ensure a vote on Selective Service Repeal - and similar bills - not IN SPITE of their support of the Armed Forces - but specifically BECAUSE of it - namely, to maximize prospects of successfully stopping S.S. expansion to women, in this Democratic-dominated Congress." (Drafting women will hurt military readiness at the worst time - and for no good reason; the Center for Military Readiness has details.)

1. The Senate Republican Leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell [R, KY]: (202) 224-2541 / Fax:" -2499

~~
2. The GOP House Leader Representative Kevin McCarthy: (202) 225-2915 / Fax: " -2908

3. Senator Joe Manchin III [D, WV]:   202-224-3954 [possibly a swing Democrat];

4. The (top) Ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. James M. Inhofe [R, OK]: (202) 224-4721/ Fax: (202) 228-0380.

For the central Congressional Switchboard, call 202-224-3121, or:
https://www.votervoice.net/mobile/CWFA/campaigns/87862/respond.

Q) How do the women calling explain their motivation to oppose Selective Service, if asked by  leftist staffers?

A) They don't want to serve, nor should any woman be FORCED to. Even from a secular perspective, it's misogynist (anti-woman) to FORCE women into any type of government service, to be subjugated to harmful elements of society, with - and under - whom they'd be forced to serve.  Moreover, to force women into the most "UN-equal" dangers of combat against violent males - risking both death and capture - is unspeakably barbaric.*

* ד"ל.

********************* 

Q) Why Eliminate Selective Service (S.S.)?

A) ° The S.S. Repeal bill, and similar types of legislation, would provide a real chance of success in this Democratic-dominated Congress, if the Republicans would get behind them. Many on the Left also oppose S.S.. 

° S.S. is also unnecessary: Selective Service is an obsolete leftover legacy of left-leaning Jimmy Carter. In 1980, Carter reinstated S.S. - in his failed mission to extend S.S. to women.

° There are additional reasons to abolish S.S., including the prohibition to serve in  the current Dor HaMabul (G@¥$)-dominated military environment, or to fight in wars prohibited according to Torah.

Q) Isn't that opposing the Draft itself?

A) Not at all. If there will ever be a real need for a Draft, R"L, they'd need separate legislation anyway, with or without Selective Service. With modern technology, they can draft people just as well without the wasteful S.S. bureaucracy.

Q) What about the House?

A) The entire House of Representatives already passed their version of the NDAA on Sept. 23, including the provision from Representative Houlahan (D, PA), requiring women to register for Selective Service. However, there may be another House vote on the final version of the NDAA.

Q) Why the need to push so hard for a vote on Selective Service Repeal? 

A) Schumer has already delayed the NDAA vote until it's too late to allow enough debate on some of the most important of the 900 amendments that may be considered. That means that the Republicans, who are the minority in the Senate (by 1), may only be able to get a vote on ONE amendment against expanding Selective Service to women. It's our job to ensure that the Senate votes on an amendment that will have the BEST chance of getting enough BIPARTISAN support to actually pass. We can't rely on the Republicans to do that without a lot of pressure.*

* Many Republicans are, quite apparently, NOT fighting to win (some possibly hoping to exploit a loss to run next year) - and not pushing for the Selective Service Repeal amendment, or similar types of legislation.

Q) Are there other objections to the NDAA?

A) There definitely are other very dangerous provisions inserted into the NDAA. Whatever can be done to eliminate them should definitely be done, including filibustering to stall the bill. However, that's no REPLACEMENT for an  amendment with a real fighting chance, like S.S. Repeal, or the like.

*********

As we were redeemed from Egypt in the merit of righteous women, similarly, we shall be redeemed from this exile in the merit of righteous women (see Sefer Kav HaYashar 82).

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

Call Today. Please share! Have a dar'hoibeneh Chanukah.

Bennett: Not every decision we make is perfect, Gilat knows how to run our family

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/318062

Bennett responded to the uproar on Wednesday and said his family "is subject to exactly the same rules that apply to all Israeli citizens. I understand the criticism, but since Friday we have learned more about the variant and in which countries it is spread, and the Coronavirus Cabinet has made decisions on which countries to travel and under what conditions."

Bennett also wrote on Facebook, "My family (without me, I am staying with you ...) was supposed to go on vacation during the Hanukkah holiday in a country that turned out to be red. The holiday was immediately canceled, and after the new rules became clear, they booked a holiday to a country to which it is permitted to travel. Everyone goes out according to all the restrictions and of course will stay in isolation as required. The citizens of Israel are just as important to me as my children."

MK Yisrael Katz (Likud) criticized the Bennett’s family's trip on Wednesday and wrote that "after advising Israeli citizens not to fly abroad - Bennett's wife and children take off for a vacation abroad. This is how it is when political lies became the norm and personal example is trampled on. Such chutzpah."

After Bennett published his response to the criticism, Katz wrote, "Bennett's explanation for his family's trip abroad, contrary to the warnings he gave to the public, is worse than the act 

Wise men of Lalewood disagree with most rabbonim and doctors

 From current Binah Magazine

Inaccurate claims about 'rabbinical court' opposing Covid-19 vaccination spread online

 https://news.yahoo.com/inaccurate-claims-rabbinical-court-opposing-204803831.html

 Online articles and social media posts claim a "rabbinical court" that is part of Israel's legal system ruled against Covid-19 vaccination for young people and children in a binding decision for observant Jews. But leading rabbinical authorities in both Israel and the United States have endorsed vaccination, and experts say the ruling did not come from a widely recognized Jewish legal authority.

Rabbi Shlomo Alexander Pollak, one of the three signatories of the ruling, defended it and said the hearing included "many rabbis from diverse Jewish communities," and that "public notice was sent out" for any rabbinic authority to participate.

"Those in attendance agreed upon this ruling; however many did not sign due to interference with their political standpoint of their community," he said, adding that three signatories is the minimum to issue a ruling.

Agudath Israel Slams NYC COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate for Yeshiva, Non-Public School Employees

 https://www.jewishpress.com/news/us-news/ny/nyc-mandates-covid-19-vaccination-for-non-public-school-employees-in-yeshivas/2021/12/03/

Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zwiebel of Agudath Israel responded to the new mandate as Chairman of the Committee of New York City Religious and Independent School Officials, representing private schools all across New York City.

Zwiebel sent a sharply worded letter to NYC Health Commissioner Dave Chokshi over the just-announced mandate, writing that “government should be using its bully pulpit to persuade, not its regulatory arm to coerce.

 “The reality is that the small percentage of school employees who have chosen not to vaccinate have made a personal choice based on their individual circumstances and personal values.

“Surely at least some of them will continue to resist vaccination even if the city imposes a vaccination mandate – whereupon, pursuant to the terms of the mandate, they will be terminated from their jobs. As a result, the school will have to hire new qualified teachers and other staff to fill the newly created vacancies,” the letter continued.

“In an era when finding high quality teachers and staff is so difficult even at the beginning of the school year finding high quality replacement staff in the middle of the school year may be impossible. Some schools may even be forced to close because of the severe shortage of teachers.”

The Benefits of Vaccinating Kids against COVID Far Outweigh the Risks of Myocarditis

 https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-benefits-of-vaccinating-kids-against-covid-far-outweigh-the-risks-of-myocarditis1/

 Parents who are considering whether to vaccinate their child against COVID may have heard about the risk of a rare side effect called myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart tissue that has occurred in some teenagers and young adults who have received an mRNA vaccine. These parents may be wondering, “Is this something I should be worried about for my child?”

Here is what scientists know: Vaccine-related myocarditis is extremely rare; estimates vary, but the highest figures suggest there have been fewer than 200 cases per million fully vaccinated males ages 12–15, the youngest age group for which such data currently exist. Only about 30 cases per million have been reported in vaccinated females of that age. Pfizer, whose mRNA vaccine was recently authorized for use in five- to 11-year olds, says it did not observe any myocarditis cases in its clinical trial for the latter age group (it would be nearly impossible to design a trial large enough to detect such a rare effect). Scientists expect it to be even rarer in 5–11-year-old kids compared with teens, because myocarditis from any cause is less common in the younger age group. The vaccine dose authorized for that group is lower, as well.

Ilhan Omar airs death threat and presses Republicans on ‘anti-Muslim hatred’

 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/dec/01/ilhan-omar-airs-death-threat-and-presses-republicans-on-anti-muslim-hatred

 Boebert initially took steps to ease the situation, apologising last week “to anyone in the Muslim community I offended”. But after declining to apologise directly to Omar during a tense phone call on Monday, which Omar abruptly ended, Boebert again went on the attack.

“Rejecting an apology and hanging up on someone is part of cancel culture 101 and a pillar of the Democrat party,” Boebert said in an Instagram video.

So far, McCarthy is taking her side. When asked on Tuesday what he would do if Democrats tried to censure Boebert, McCarthy said: “After she apologised personally and publicly? I’d vote against it.”

Israel’s health minister wants to make it easier to get abortions

 https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/israels-health-minister-wants-to-make-it-easier-to-get-abortions-687730

As the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Washington on the most significant abortion case to reach the court in decades, Israel’s health minister laid out his plans to simplify what he called Israel’s “chauvinistic” abortion process on Wednesday.

“It should be a given — the rights to a woman’s body are the woman’s alone,” Nitzan Horowitz told the Israeli news site Ynet. “Any decision or medical procedure such as the choice of whether to perform an abortion must be in the hands of the woman. We have no moral right to decide for her how to deal with an unwanted pregnancy.”

Horowitz, head of the left-wing Meretz Party, wants to allow women to terminate a pregnancy within its first 12 weeks without approval by a committee, which is currently a requirement for all abortions in Israel.

No get divorce

 

Tel Aviv city councilmember, a former deputy mayor, named as sex abuse suspect

https://www.timesofisrael.com/tel-aviv-city-councilmember-a-former-deputy-mayor-named-as-sex-abuse-suspect/ 

 Arnon Giladi, a former deputy mayor of Tel Aviv who is still a member of the city council, was named Wednesday as the suspect in a case in which a man is claiming the councilmember paid to have sex with him ten years ago, when the accuser was just 15, and tried to pressure him into similar sexual encounters years later.

The Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court released Giladi from custody Wednesday, prohibiting him from leaving the country or making contact with his accuser for 60 days.

Giladi, who is a member of the city council for the Likud party, has denied the accusations, which were revealed in a series of Hebrew media reports over the past two weeks.

'Good news for dozens of agunot around the world'

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/317923

The Israeli Knesset yesterday passed the Foreign Agunot Law.

The initiator of the law, Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, president of the Conference of European Rabbis and rabbi of Moscow, expressed his appreciation, saying: "Today brings good tidings for dozens of agunot around the world who until now have not been able to force their husbands to litigate before a court in Israel, or alternately to uphold the rulings of those courts abroad. There is a special symbolic significance in the fact that this event takes place on Hanukkah, and brings light and hope to the lives of the agunot in the Diaspora”.

"There is great joy in the fact that all the parties represented in the Knesset, from the haredi United Torah Judaism to the leftist secular Meretz party, supported this important law."

"Today, the people of Zion have shown their unity with Diaspora Jewry."

"The acute significance of the new law lies in the fact that from the point of view of civil law in the Diaspora, it is enough for a husband to provide his wife with a civil divorce to be considered to be divorced, even if the couple was married according to Halakha. As a result, hundreds of recalcitrant husbands, who went on to have new families kept their wives unable to get remarried. This extraordinary law gives Israeli rabbinical courts the jurisdiction to impose sanctions against such husbands, even though they are neither citizens nor residents."

In Call for Accountability, Omar Says Boebert Waged 'Attack on Millions of American Muslims'

 https://www.newsweek.com/call-accountability-omar-says-boebert-waged-attack-millions-american-muslims-1654679

 "When a sitting member of Congress calls a colleague a 'member of the Jihad Squad' and falsifies a story to suggest that I will blow up the Capitol, it is not just an attack on me, but on millions of American Muslims across this country," Omar said at the conference.

CNN suspends Chris Cuomo indefinitely

 https://edition.cnn.com/2021/11/30/media/chris-cuomo-suspended/index.html

 "The New York Attorney General's office released transcripts and exhibits Monday that shed new light on Chris Cuomo's involvement in his brother's defense," a CNN spokesperson said Tuesday evening. "The documents, which we were not privy to before their public release, raise serious questions."

"When Chris admitted to us that he had offered advice to his brother's staff, he broke our rules and we acknowledged that publicly," the spokesperson continued. "But we also appreciated the unique position he was in and understood his need to put family first and job second."

"However, these documents point to a greater level of involvement in his brother's efforts than we previously knew," the spokesperson added. "As a result, we have suspended Chris indefinitely, pending further evaluation."

Supreme Court Set to Hear Arguments in the Mississippi Case Seeking to Overturn Roe v. Wade

 https://time.com/6122144/supreme-court-roe-v-wade-mississippi-abortion/

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will consider the question of whether all bans on abortion before viability are unconstitutional. Mississippi has also asked the Court directly to overturn Roe, as well as Planned Parenthood v. Casey, a 1992 decision that reaffirmed abortion rights. In the state’s brief, filed over the summer, Mississippi’s Republican attorney general, Lynn Fitch, argued that both precedents are “unprincipled decisions” without basis in the Constitution and that states should be allowed to prohibit abortion if the laws support legitimate government interests.

Fox host Lara Logan compares Fauci to Nazi death camp doctor Mengele

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/fox-host-lara-logan-compares-fauci-to-nazi-death-camp-doctor-mengele/

 Fox Nation host Lara Logan compared Anthony Fauci, the top official handling the United States coronavirus response, to Josef Mengele, the Nazi doctor who conducted experiments on inmates at the Auschwitz death camp.

Logan was speaking on “Fox News Primetime” on Monday about the prospect of new restrictive measures in the wake of the international concern over a new coronavirus variant, dubbed Omicron.

“This is what people say to me, that he doesn’t represent science to them,” Logan said of Fauci, US President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, who has become a lightning rod for conservative ire because he has favored restrictions to contain the virus. “He represents Joseph Mengele, the Nazi doctor who did experiments on Jews during the Second World War and in the concentration camps. And I am talking about people all across the world are saying this.”

Schlesinger Twins: Why was Dr. Schlesinger unhappy with the report of the ESRA psychiatrist that Beth was tricked into seeing?

Update: Added comment on the translation of Dr. Schlesinger's lawyer's false assertion regarding the ESRA diagnosis at the bottom of the post] As repeatedly noted, Dr. Schlesinger is obsessed with the idea that Beth is suffering from major mental illness. He failed in his attempt to have his wife committed because he was sure that she was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia. The police psychiatrist rejected this possibility. He involvement into tricking Beth to go to ESRA for a diagnosis of at least post-partum depression also failed.

Below is the actual report of the Esra psychiatrist in the original German and in English translation. Also I included Dr. Schlesinger's pointed rejection of this diagnosis in response to Beth's appeal to regain custody that she lost to him. Dr. Schlesinger is convinced that the psychiatrists are wrong and only he understands that Beth is clearly paranoid, schizophrenic and suffering from postpartum depression. I find it strange that no one has picked up on this obsession to have Beth committed as well as to control her in an abusive fashion. That alone should have been enough to return custody to Beth.

ESRA PSYCHOSOCIAL CENTRE

Centre for psychosocial, sociotherapeutic and sociocultural integration

  Clinic for delayed reactions and illness resulting from a Holocaust or migration syndrome

Vienna, 3 March 2010

SPECIALISTS’ REPORT

Re:  Ms. Beth Schlesinger, DOB: 22.8.1984

Taborstr. 38/2, 1020 Vienna

Dear colleague,

Ms Beth Schlesinger came to our clinic on 10 November 2009 because of a sleep deficit over a period of months caused by a very troublesome care situation with 6-month-old twins. 

The patient stated the following:

She was born and grew up in Manchester, England, has two brothers, married a Viennese and has been living in Vienna for three years. She has worked as a TESOL teacher (Teacher of English to Speakers of Other Languages) and at a migrant organization. 

Ms. Schlesinger has two sons, twins aged six months. Her husband is a house officer (intern) at the Wilhelminenspital (KAV, 1160 Wien) in Vienna. The pregnancy was normal, a Caesarean section at the Vienna AKH (General Hospital) in the 35^th week. The children are healthy but could only be breastfed for 4.5 months, as they had become used to a bottle by that point.

Neither parent was able to sleep much at night – at the most two hours – as one of the children would then wake up, leading to extreme stress. The parents tried to react quickly when this happened so that the other child did not wake up too. The patient is exhausted although she has a daytime household help. The situation is too much for her and she is unable to sleep during the day as well.

Ms. Schlesinger’s family lives in England, her husband’s family in Vienna. The latter, however, do not help her. On the contrary, her mother-in-law phones her again and again, wanting to know everything but offering no assistance whatsoever. She also has a sister-in-law (the boys’ aunt) in Vienna but neither her mother-in-law nor her sister-in-law does anything to help her.

Psychopathological status: clear-thinking, fully oriented, no hints of positive symptoms of schizophrenia, labile mood, emotions predominantly negative, makes exhausted impression, under considerable stress, normal cognitive powers except for disturbance of attention resulting from exhaustion, enormously stressful situation due to sleep-deprivation and disruption of her biorhythm. 

The patient was offered parent counseling for the stressful situation she was in. Other strategies were discussed.  Zoldem® (zolpidem) when required was prescribed for sleeping problems.

Diagnosis: adjustment disorder F 43.20 (brief depressive reaction due to the stress associated with situation at home)

Signed:  Dr. David Vyssoki, Medical Director               Dr. Waltraud Fellinger-Vols, Psychiatrist

Added by translator: ICD-10

F43 Reaction to severe stress, and adjustment disorders

F43.0 Acute stress reaction

F43.1 Post-traumatic stress disorder

F43.2 Adjustment disorders

.20 Brief depressive reaction

.21 Prolonged depressive reaction

.22 Mixed anxiety and depressive reaction

.23 With predominant disturbance of other emotions

.24 With predominant disturbance of conduct

.25 With mixed disturbance of emotions and conduct

.28 With other specified predominant symptoms

F43.8 Other reactions to severe stress

F43.9 Reaction to severe stress, unspecified

Original German report of the findings of the psychiatrist and the diagnosis that she is simply suffering from the stress of lack of sleep.

Psychopathologischer Status: klar, allseits orientiert, geordnet, kein Hinweis auf produktive Symptomatik, Stimmungslage eher labil, mehr im negativen Bereich affizierbar, wirkt erschöpft, belastet, kognitive Leistungen bis auf erschöpfungsbedingte Konzentrationsstörung unauffällig, massive Belastungssituation durch Schlafdefizit mit Biorhythmusstörung.

Angesichts der belasteten Situation wurde der Patientin eine Elternberatung angeboten, weiters wurden Strategien besprochen. Eine Einschlafhilfe durch Zoldem 10 mg Tabletten bei Bedarf wurde verordnet.

Es wurde die Diagnose einer Anpassungsstörung F 43.20 gestellt, im Sinne einer leichten depressiven Reaktion im Rahmen der Belastungssituation.

Für Rückfragen stehen wir gerne zur Verfügung

 =====================

EXCERPT FROM DR SCHLESINGER'S REPLY TO BETH'S CUSTODY APPEAL, AUG 2011

[Notice that he not only disagrees with the psychiatrists reporting that they failed to find post partum depression but he wants to include in the report that she has "a paranoid personality structure". Finally he distorts the ESRA report - which while noting that Beth was in a situation of acute stress from sleep deprivation dealing with the twins - does not say that they recommend "urgent therapeutic help".]

update In the excerpt below the German says ... Also the children father rejects the ESRA diagnosis which asserted that Beth does not have post partum depression. @Flower raised the question who else disagreed with the report. The translator said that the reason that she omitted the previous sentence is because it make a false assertion. It says that not only does Beth reject the ESRA report which says she doesn't have postpartum depression but also Michael rejects it.

In other words Dr. Schlesinger's lawyer is falsely asserting in the appeals document that Beth says the ESRA psychiatrist was wrong and that she in fact does have post partum depression and that also Michael agrees with that.

“The father disagrees with the negative statement (regarding post partum depression) and wishes it to be changed to an alternative or additional one about her paranoid personality structure, the way she manipulates her environment, and that the ESRA (Vienna Jewish community psychosocial centre) therapist, who the mother and a girlfriend ["Janet"] went to see, stated that she was subject to a situation of acute stress and recommended that she get urgent therapeutic help”

„….Auch der Kindesvater bekämpft diese Negativfeststellung und begehrt an deren Stelle die Ersatz- bzw die ergänzende Feststellung zur paranoiden Persönlichkeitsstruktur, zu deren ihre Umwelt manipulierenden Verhalten sowie dazu, dass jene Therapeutin der ESRA (dem psychosozialen Zentrum der IKG), die die Kindesmutter gemeinsam mit einer Freundin aufgesucht hatte, bei ihr eine akute Belastungssituation konstatiert und ihr dringend therapeutische Hilfe anempfohlen hat „     

Schlesinger Twins: Who is Dr. Michael Schlesinger?

I have posted many articles regarding the Schlesinger twins and I still find this case difficult to understand or justify. updated and corrected click link for transcript of facts reported in Parliament

The basic  facts are that when Beth and Michael got married she moved from England and settled in his community in Vienna.  They are both highly intelligent. They have twin boys. Apparently the marriage had significant problems from the beginning. Beth claims she was having serious doubts about the marriage because of what she claims was his strange and abusive - both physically and psychologically - behavior. (She claims for example that he prevented her from using the bath room at night.) The marriage official fell apart after the twins were 8 months old (after 3.5 years).

At that point Michael - who is a medical doctor - tried unsuccessfully to have Beth committed to a mental hospital. Beth received full custody of the twins with Dr. Schlesinger having supervised visits. After a year there was a custody trial by a judge (Susanne Göttlicher) who did not know Schlesinger, but, higher court judge Konstanze Thau (who has no legal position in the case) was a family friend of Schlesinger's, and was advising him as admitted by Schlesinger in court and documented in the court transcripts. The judge gave a totally unexpected ruled - based on a psychological evaluation by a psychiatrist who is alleged to have connections with the Schlesinger family - that full custody was given to Michael.

The court-appointed psychiatrist who heavily criticized Beth in her report was Dr Ulrike Willinger (this was the underpinning reason for the transfer of custody in 2011). She was an employee of Konstanta Thau's husband, Kenneth Thau (who is himself a psychiatrist) at AKH hospital: http://www.akhwien.at/default.aspx?pid=285 . Dr Willinger has been discredited in other custody cases where she has been heavily critical of the mother's parenting skills, and a subsequent court-commissioned report by Dr Werner Leixnering states: “Neither at the time of the examination nor at any point in the past, has [Beth] suffered from any form of mental illness.” http://helpbeth.org/london-jewish-news-16-11-2012/

 Beth has supervised handovers for which she must pay 50 euros. This means that both Beth and Mr Schlesinger have to go to a "family center" at the start and end of each visit so that they don't meet each other. Once the transfer is complete, Beth is allowed the visit to be unsupervised and to take the children away for the length of the visit. In practice, the handover doesn't actually need to be done by a "family center". Beth could pick them up from the Kindergarten for example or take up Chief Rabbi Eisenberg's offer to do the handover at the Stadttempel under his supervision. In actual fact, the family center have regularly failed to protect Beth from Mr Schlesinger's verbal abuse at the start and end of the visits.

Beth reports that her children have significantly deteriorated in Michael's custody where they are being raised by two non-Jewish women. For example their front teeth were extracted because of decay that occurred after they moved in with their father. They are functioning significantly behind their age level in language and in fact don't speak normally. It is not clear how they are doing in the Chabad school they attend since the school refuses to divulge any information to Beth. There are reports that they don't wear kippos or tzitzis Furthermore Beth reports that at times Michael arbitrarily cancels visits because of various claims he has against her.

It is difficult to me to understand what justification there is denying the children their mother  and instead raising them with non-Jewish babysitters. It is difficult to understand why Beth should be denied knowledge about how they are doing in school. It is strange that the Jewish community should tolerate this situation.

It seems obvious that there is a need for an outside evaluation of the children. This in fact was ordered by the court - but has never been implemented. It is also strange that Dr. Schlesinger has not been evaluated for his mental health and competence as a parent.

In the name of fairness, I would welcome a guest post by Dr. Schlesinger explaining his side of the story and why he thinks it is important that Beth not be given a normal relationship with her children and what is the basis for the reports about the twins developmental and language problems. Obviously he has a different understanding then she - and it would be helpful if he or one of his supporters explained his side of the story. It would also be helpful if some of his background could be provided - such as where he works and why he thinks the marriage fell apart so quickly despite appearing to be such a promising relationship.

Corruption in the Austrian Justice System

  https://www.facebook.com/derStandardat/posts/judges-last-waltz-in-vienna-corruption-in-the-austrian-justice-systemby-ken-came/10156978757671963/

Sources indicate that Konstanze Thau and her friend District Judge Susanne Göttlicher abused the judicial process by allegedly taking a bribe of €70,000. The bribe came from medical doctor Michael Schlesinger, father of two boys, and after a war of attrition in the courts, he took sole custody of those children. The court process was used to harry the mother, Beth Alexander until she had little alternative but to flee Vienna for her homeland England. She has not seen her children since November 2016. Konstanze Thau, Michael Schlesinger and Beth Alexander were all members of Vienna's Jewish community however the city rabbis failed to intervene in the case, except to protect Schlesinger's interests.

Schlesinger Twins: Court document - Rabbi Biderman sent Beth's confidential email to Michael and to Judge Thau

The following is a court document which shows clearly that Rabbi Biderman is not only a supporter of Dr. Schlesinger but was actively involved in the custody battle against Beth.  Before Beth had her own blogsite, she would alert a small mailing list of Rabbis to events in Austria in the hope that someone would listen and step in. Rabbi Biderman was one of these Rabbis and, unbeknown to Beth, he was forwarding them to Dr. Schlesinger and also to Konstanze Thau (the judge who is the friend of Dr. Schlesinger who inappropriately intervened in the case). Schlesinger's lawyer accidentally forwarded it to the court and it became a court document. 

Lauren Boebert's apology to Ilhan Omar for a blatantly Islamophobic 'joke' is pure theate

 https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/lauren-boebert-s-apology-her-blatantly-islamophobic-joke-pure-theater-n1284965

 But Boebert has not only in trafficked in bigotry, but she has also been a visible part of the Jan. 6 attack and its aftermath. On Jan. 6, just hours before the Capitol attack, Boebert tweeted, “Today is 1776,” which, as experts note, is used by far-right activists to indicate support for “a revolution in the wake of Trump’s election loss,” which they view as illegitimate. Boebert has also slammed the Department of Justice for what she deems unfair treatment of those arrested for their role in the Jan. 6 attack on our Capitol. She has documented ties to white nationalist militias such as the Three Percenters, whose members provided security at her rallies and some of whom have been arrested for their involvement in the Jan 6. attack. The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack should subpoena Boebert to provide testimony under oath given her tweet and ties to the Three Percenters.

Israeli Supreme Court upholds ruling sending Eitan Biran back to Italy

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-supreme-court-upholds-ruling-sending-eitan-biran-back-to-italy/

 Israel’s Supreme Court ruled on Monday that Eitan Biran, a 6-year-old boy who was orphaned in a cable car crash in Italy, must be returned to his paternal family in Italy by December 12, rejecting a final appeal from his Israel-based family.

Biran, who was living in Italy at the time of the cable car crash in May that killed his parents, his younger brother and his great-grandparents, has become the subject of a bitter custody fight between his Italy-based paternal family and his Israel-based maternal family.

After an Italian court temporarily granted the paternal family custody, Biran’s maternal grandfather, Shmuel Peleg, secretly smuggled the boy to Israel via Switzerland, prompting claims of kidnapping.

Orthodox Union sued over past abuse by rabbi convicted of sexual abuse

 https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/orthodox-union-sued-over-past-abuse-by-rabbi-convicted-of-sexual-abuse-687364

 More than two decades after publication of allegations that Rabbi Baruch Lanner abused teens in his charge for more than 30 years, four of his victims are seeking their day in court.

The four women, now middle aged and older, filed a lawsuit today with the Superior Court of New Jersey in Middlesex County against Lanner, the Orthodox Union and the National Conference of Synagogue Youth, the OU’s youth arm, where Lanner was a top official. 

It is believed to be the first such legal action taken against the Orthodox organizations as a result of the scandal involving Lanner, 72, who was forced to resign days after The Jewish Week published in 2000 an investigation that detailed charges against him by more than a dozen former NCSY members.

Pilegesh is not a heter for fornication

 There are some people mistakenly think that premarital sex is permitted because of pilegesh, in fact pil;esh is a type of marriage.

 https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwi7mZSasb70AhXGhv0HHcXVBtw4FBAWegQIJhAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Frabbimanning.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2021%2F01%2FPilegesh-Part-2.pdf&usg=AOvVaw1mpaIHApmiMokyRdN81NWh

• A number of recent writers have raised the question of whether pilegesh should be revived as an institution in modern society to resolve current challenges.
• In the mid 1990s an organization based in New York purported to arrange concubines. It was met with outrage and condemnation
by all rabbinic bodies.41 Other such organizations have sprung up over the last 20 years.42
• In 2006 Prof. Zvi Zohar (an academic at Bar Ilan University) wrote a highly provocative article promoting Pilgashut to resolve pressingissues which he identified in religious society, including: young couples who identify as orthodox but live together before marriage,young orthodox men who conduct illicit relationships with non-Jewish women, older single women who are unable to marry.
• Zohar’s article received detailed responses from Rav Shmuel Ariel, Rav Yehuda Henkin and Rabbanit Michal Tukochinsky/Rabbanit Racheli Fraenkel. All entirely negated his position on halachic, hashkafic, moral, ethical and societal grounds. These include its demeaning effect on women, the undermining of the sanctity of marriage and the halachic and hashkafic imperatives on young people
to marry, and the undermining of sexual morality in society as a whole43.
• In 2012, a senior Sefardi Rabbi in Israel suggested pilagshut as a possible solution in the case of a man whose wife refused to accept a get and where the man needed to have a family and perform the mitzva of pru u’revu44.

Modern Orthodox premarital sex

https://www.jewishideas.org/article/its-all-relative-contemporary-orthodox-jewish-family-america-0

In their mid-1980s study of varieties of Orthodox Jews, sociologists Samuel C. Heilman and Steven M. Cohen (Cosmopolitans and Parochials: Modern Orthodox Jews in America, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989, pp. 173–179) found, across the range of Orthodox people they studied, “younger respondents consistently reported more indulgent attitudes toward the practice of premarital sex than their older counterparts”; that almost a quarter of those they labeled as “centrists” (not to be confused with what scholars at Yeshiva University term “centrist”; see David Berger’s highly critical review of the Heilman-Cohen book, Modern Judaism 11:2, (May 1991), pp. 261–272) do not disapprove of sexual relations between couples who are dating seriously, and as many as 40 percent do not disapprove for those who are engaged to be married; and that among younger centrists, only about half disapproved sexual relations for those dating seriously, and less than half disapproved for engaged couples. Although these figures reflect attitudes, it is hard to imagine that there was a highly significant gap between attitudes and behavior. The popularity of the expression “tefilin date” also apparently reflected a reality of otherwise observant Orthodox Jews who spent the night with their dates but prayed wearing tefilin the following morning. 

Most recently, Zvi Zohar (“Zugiyut al-pi haHalakha lelo hupa veKidushin,” Akdamot 17 (Shevat 5767), pp. 11–33) argued, based on the opinions of Nahmanides (1194–1270), Rabbi Abraham ben David (Rabad, 1125–1198), and Rabbi Shelomo ben Aderet (Rashba, 1235–1310), as well Rabbi Jacob Emden (1697–1776) that there is no prohibition against sexual relations without marriage so long as the relationship is not illicit, that is, it is consensual and monogamous, and the woman observes the laws of niddah and mikvah. His thesis was strongly rejected (in the same issue of Akdamot) by Rabbi Yehuda Herzl Henkin, Shemuel Ariel, Mikhal Tikochinsky, and Rachel Shprecher Frankel. Despite their rejections of its halakhic legitimacy, sexual relations among the unmarried was apparently perceived to be significant enough of a phenomenon in the Orthodox and traditional communities that the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi, Yonah Metzger, issued a ban on allowing unmarried women to use mikvaot. The effectiveness of that ban is anyone’s guess.