R Bulka's observations on conversion crisis

CJnews

The Canadian Jewish News was right, and right on, in calling for unity (Jan. 14) in the face of the latest conversion crisis. Two articles on this matter also appeared, one by Rabbi Marc D. Angel in that same issue, and a followup rebuttal by Rabbi Reuven Tradburks on Jan. 21. In their disagreement, there was an obvious agreement that unity is vital. The question at hand is how best to achieve it.

I know both these distinguished rabbis and am singularly aware of their passionate commitment to the long-range welfare of our community – here, in Israel and everywhere else. So what I share with you herein is in no way to be construed as criticism of these rabbis. It’s more a personal reflection on the issue as it has developed and on the background of what once was.[...]

Tropper resigns as rosh yeshiva of Kol Yaakov

Five Towns Jewish Times

Late this morning Leib Tropper, the head of Yeshiva Kol Yaakov in Monsey resigned his position as Rosh Yeshiva of the institution. The new incoming Rosh Yeshiva is Rabbi Dovid Stefansky Shlita, a maggid shiur in the Yeshiva. Kol Yaakov is staffed by fine Talmidei Chachomim among whom are some quite distinguished Torah scholars.

Tropper indicated that he was resigning so that the Monsey-based Bais Din will not continue their investigations into allegations against him.[...]

Tropper scandal: Investigating beis din threatened

5 Towns Jewish Times

Members of the Monsey based Bais Din investigating the charges against Leib Tropper has been receiving a series of threatening phone calls from people. The threats have ranged from threats of utterly destroying the Rabbis to getting people to pray for the downfall and destruction of the Rabbis involved in the investigation. [...]

Is beis din obligated to convert non-Jews?

Restitution in sexual abuse cases

NYTIMES

When Amy was a little girl, her uncle made her famous in the worst way: as a star in the netherworld of child pornography. Photographs and videos known as “the Misty series” depicting her abuse have circulated on the Internet for more than 10 years, and often turn up in the collections of those arrested for possession of illegal images.

Now, with the help of an inventive lawyer, the young woman known as Amy — her real name has been withheld in court to prevent harassment — is fighting back.

Conversion - best beis din & Jerusalem seminary?

I just received this letter. Would appreciate help in providing him with answers.
================
Rabbi,

Your blogs often discuss issues concerning conversions. But mostly all criticism.  Who in Jerusalem and who in New  York would you recommend an interested guir candidate, daughter of a Jewish father and goy mother to speak with and  learn from?  What beis din in New York City and Jerusalem is ideal in your estimation?  Is the RCA preferable over EJF? What seminary in Jerusalem is best for a md-20s girl giur candidate to learn at in your estimation?

 I could really use your advice.

Gedolim & Placebos: Danger of destroying false expectations

While this article deals with the significance of the placebo effect on depression - it is equally valid concerning revealing the truth in other areas. If a person is happy and functioning well - should you provide him with information that some of his foundation beliefs are simply not true? For example that investments that return 30% interest are probably ponzi schemes or that all rabbis will protect your children from being harmed or that rabbis don't give into lust and greed or that gedolim are infallible or that if you think you have bitachon - the physical world  never matters? These are very real questions as is clear that all people have fundamental beliefs about reality which are not true. In other words does the requirement of "not standing idly by the blood of your brother" include protecting their illusions or to pop them?

Newsweek

Although the year is young, it has already brought my first moral dilemma. In early January a friend mentioned that his New Year's resolution was to beat his chronic depression once and for all. Over the years he had tried a medicine chest's worth of antidepressants, but none had really helped in any enduring way, and when the side effects became so unpleasant that he stopped taking them, the withdrawal symptoms (cramps, dizziness, headaches) were torture. Did I know of any research that might help him decide whether a new antidepressant his doctor recommended might finally lift his chronic darkness at noon?

The moral dilemma was this: oh, yes, I knew of 20-plus years of research on antidepressants, from the old tricyclics to the newer selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) that target serotonin (Zoloft, Paxil, and the granddaddy of them all, Prozac, as well as their generic descendants) to even newer ones that also target norepinephrine (Effexor, Wellbutrin). The research had shown that antidepressants help about three quarters of people with depression who take them, a consistent finding that serves as the basis for the oft-repeated mantra "There is no question that the safety and efficacy of antidepressants rest on solid scientific evidence," as psychiatry professor Richard Friedman of Weill Cornell Medical College recently wrote in The New York Times. But ever since a seminal study in 1998, whose findings were reinforced by landmark research in The Journal of the American Medical Association last month, that evidence has come with a big asterisk. Yes, the drugs are effective, in that they lift depression in most patients. But that benefit is hardly more than what patients get when they, unknowingly and as part of a study, take a dummy pill—a placebo. As more and more scientists who study depression and the drugs that treat it are concluding, that suggests that antidepressants are basically expensive Tic Tacs.[,,,]
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