Abuser from Meah Shearim convicted

Ynet:

The Jerusalem District Court found Avraham Katz (40) an ultra-Orthodox man from the Meah Shearim neighborhood in the capital guilty of three counts of sodomy and indecent assault against minors.

Monday's somewhat unusual conviction was secured after members of the ultra-Orthodox community filed a police complaint against the man – a rare move by itself in a community which usually deals with such acts within itself.

The indictment against Katz details three cases, which took place in mid 2006, December of 2007 and May of 2008. According to all three accounts, he would approach teenaged boys, lure them to accompany him and once they were alone he would touch them in various ways for his own sexual gratification, sodomizing at least one of his victims as well.[...]

Homosexual Adoption

YNet:

Two years after petitioning court to allow them to adopt child they have been fostering since 1995, Prof. Uzi Even and Dr. Amit Kama can now officially call Yossi their so

The Ramat Gan Family Court set a precedent Tuesday after allowing a gay couple to finally adopt their foster son after 14 years.

Prof. Uzi Even and Dr. Amit Kama have been serving as foster parents to Yossi Even-Kama, 30, since 1995.

"The court finds that all of the stipulations noted in the adoption laws and pertaining to the foster child in question have been duly met," Justice Alisa Miller noted in her ruling. "I hereby grant the adoption decree and state that Yossi Even-Kama is now Uzi Even and Amit Kama's son."

Yossi first arrived at the Even-Kama home in 1995, after being disowned by his family for being a homosexual. Even and Kama soon petitioned the Israeli Social Services to become his foster parents, and when their request was granted they also became Israel's first-ever gay couple to be recognized as a foster family. [...]

Free-will & Compulsion

Rav Tzadok(Tzedkas HaTzadik 43): There are times when a person is presented with such a great test that it is impossible that he should not sin. This is described in Berachos (32a): “How could the son not sin?” This is considered an overwhelming force and the Torah says he is exempt. Also there are times when the yetzer harah seduces with such overwhelming force that it can’t be defeated. This is also described as beyond free‑will (onas). If G‑d twists a person’s heart so that he sins - that is not considered a sin at all since it was G‑d’s will. Look at what it says in Kesubos (51b) in reference to a woman being raped and she protests strongly but at the end she says that the experience was so pleasurable she would have even paid for it. Nonetheless the gemora says she is still permitted to her husband because her lust was aroused so strongly she had no free will. She is not punished even though it is prohibited – because she was forced. However a person cannot testify on himself that he didn’t have free‑will. That is because it is still possible that he did have the power to control his desires. I heard this in regard to Zimri who erred in this matter.

Declining influence of religion in America

Fox News reports:

Fifteen percent of respondents said they had no religion, an increase from 14.2 percent in 2001 and 8.2 percent in 1990, according to the American Religious Identification Survey.

Northern New England surpassed the Pacific Northwest as the least religious region, with Vermont reporting the highest share of those claiming no religion, at 34 percent. Still, the study found that the numbers of Americans with no religion rose in every state.

"No other religious bloc has kept such a pace in every state," the study's authors said. [...]

while the number of Jews who described themselves as religiously observant continued to drop, from 1.8 percent in 1990 to 1.2 percent, or 2.7 million people, last year. Researchers plan a broader survey on people who consider themselves culturally Jewish but aren't religious

Islam -Religion of Peace

Wall Street Journal reports:

by Tawfik Hamid (a former member of an Egyptian Islamist terroristgroup, is an Islamic reformer and senior fellow at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies.)

The film "Fitna" by Dutch parliament member Geert Wilders has created an uproar around the world because it links violence committed by Islamists to Islam.

Many commentators and politicians -- including the British government, which denied him entry to the country last month -- reflexively accused Mr. Wilders of inciting hatred. The question, however, is whether the blame is with Mr. Wilders, who simply exposed Islamic radicalism, or with those who promote and engage in this religious extremism. In other words, shall we fault Mr. Wilders for raising issues like the stoning of women, or shall we fault those who actually promote and practice this crime?

Many Muslims seem to believe that it is acceptable to teach hatred and violence in the name of their religion -- while at the same time expecting the world to respect Islam as a religion of peace, love and harmony.

Scholars in the most prestigious Islamic institutes and universities continue to teach things like Jews are "pigs and monkeys," that women and men must be stoned to death for adultery, or that Muslims must fight the world to spread their religion. Isn't, then, Mr. Wilders's criticism appropriate? Instead of blaming him, we must blame the leading Islamic scholars for having failed to produce an authoritative book on Islamic jurisprudence that is accepted in the Islamic world and unambiguously rejects these violent teachings.[...[

So, Islamic scholars and clerics, it is up to you to produce a Shariah book that will be accepted in the Islamic world and that teaches that Jews are not pigs and monkeys, that declaring war to spread Islam is unacceptable, and that killing apostates is a crime. Such a book would prove that Islam is a religion of peace.

Abuse - false accusations?

Haaretz

Four times the police brought M. from Be'er Sheva to court to extend his remand. The suspicion was grave: rape of a 7-year-old girl in the toilets at her school. Each time the court ordered a remand extension, M. loudly protested his innocence and demanded a polygraph test. He says that in response to his denials, the police would whisper in his ear "You raped her."

It was only in recent days, after 10 days under arrest and a moment before an indictment was filed, that the police and prosecution acceded to his lawyers' pleas and sent M. for a polygraph test. He was found to be telling the truth and was released. The case was then closed for a lack of evidence of sexual assault, save for what the girl had said.

Three days after he was released, M. still finds it hard to calm down. He chain-smokes; one moment he is sunk in thought, the next he gets up and paces around the room hundreds of times, his eyes fixed on the floor. From time to time he spreads his arms out to his sides. Then he leans on the wall, his face in his hands. "I know that I have to be strong and get through this," he says. "I am praying to God to give me strength to raise my children."

He is 38 years old, married and the father of three. He works in the maintenance department of the Be'er Sheva municipality, taking home NIS 4,000 per month. Only two months ago he moved with his family to a private house in Be'er Sheva.

One morning about a month ago a first-grader at the state religious school, a girl, went into the school's only bathroom, for both boys and girls. Three municipal maintenance workers, among them M., were working nearby, installing tables in the new computer room.

According to the girl, as her mother told Haaretz, "She went into the bathroom and she saw this man. He closed the bathroom's main door behind him and she was paralyzed with fear. He pushed her into one of the stalls and sexually assaulted her. Immediately after he satisfied himself, she escaped. She put her clothes on in the corridor. She was running so fast she bumped into the railing and was hit hard in the chest." [...]

Psychological problems - pikuach nefesh?

I need some help.

I am looking for clearly stated positions that causing psychological problems in others i.e., abuse - is consider life threatening?

Or put another way - what sources say that preventing a person from being abused or rescuing him from abuse - is pikuach nefesh

The above is in reference not only to sexual abuse but physical abuse - and even poor parenting, teaching or psychotherapy.