Friday, March 11, 2011
Israeli rabbis launch initiative to marry gay men to lesbian women
Haaretz
Rabbis from the religious Zionist community have launched an initiative to marry gay men to lesbian women - with some surprising successes.
So far, 11 marriages have been performed. Haaretz conducted an email interview with one such couple, Etti and Roni (not their real names ).
Etti and Roni, both religious, were married five years ago. Though they were honest with each other about their sexual orientations from their first meeting, to the outside world, they portray themselves as a normal heterosexual couple. Today, they have two children, and are thrilled with the results.
Rabbis from the religious Zionist community have launched an initiative to marry gay men to lesbian women - with some surprising successes.
So far, 11 marriages have been performed. Haaretz conducted an email interview with one such couple, Etti and Roni (not their real names ).
Etti and Roni, both religious, were married five years ago. Though they were honest with each other about their sexual orientations from their first meeting, to the outside world, they portray themselves as a normal heterosexual couple. Today, they have two children, and are thrilled with the results.
Ohr HaChaim: Moshe got everything - yet Rabbi Akiva said chidushim he didn't know!?
from Daas Torah - translation copyrighted
Ohr HaChaim (Vayikra 13:37): I would like to reconcile the apparent contradiction between two opposing views found in the Medrashim. In Vayikra Rabbah (22:1) it states that everything was given to Moshe at Sinai – even that which a student would innovate in the future. However Bamibar Rabbah (19:7) says that Rabbi Akiva gave interpretations that Moshe didn’t know. There are many other sources regarding these two views. It would appear that the reconciliation of these views is that in truth that all the Torah was told to Moshe. And therefore no scholar can possibly know more than Moshe did. And that is true across the generations from the day the Torah was given until the Messianic days – there were no new Halachos that weren’t known to Moshe. The explanation is that G d in fact gave Moshe the Written and Oral Torah. G d in His wisdom also encoded in the Written Torah the entire Oral Torah that he had taught Moshe. However He did not tell Moshe how the Oral Torah was encoded in the Written Torah. Ascertaining this encoding is in fact the work for all those engaged in Torah study. They are to determine where the halacha which was given to Moshe and the secrets and interpretations are alluded to in the Written Torah. Thus we find that the Tanaim came and composed works such as Torah Cohanim and the Sifre. Thus all their analyses of the verses are to determine where the known halacha is encoded in the Written Torah. This work which continues until the present is the holy work of Torah scholars to investigate the verses of the Bible and reconcile them with the Oral Torah. This effort is call Eretz HaChaim. This knowledge of exactly how the Oral Law was encoded in the Written Law was not given by G d to Moshe. It is in reference to this encoding that our Sages state that Rabbi Akiva made interpretations that Moshe didn’t know. This doesn’t mean that Moshe didn’t know the basis of the interpretations since after all everything was transmitted by him even that which a student would say in the future. However he didn’t know how the Oral Law was hinted at in the Written Law. This is the key to understanding the present issue where Hillel expounded the halacha from the verse that which was said to Moshe orally and G d did not reveal this halacha to Moshe from the verse. It was left for Hillel to find how this halacha was encoded in the verse.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
One in four Jewish women suffer abuse in the home
Jewish Chronicle
One in four Jewish women are victims of domestic abuse, according to the largest survey of its kind.
The Jewish Women's Aid study, You know a Jewish woman suffering from domestic abuse: Domestic abuse and the British Jewish community, found that 26 per cent of the 842 people surveyed had personally experienced domestic abuse.
Despite a third admitting they thought abuse in the Jewish community would not be the same as the rest of society, the number of Jewish woman abused is two per cent higher than the national average.
Jewish leaders have criticised communal organisations for "sweeping this problem under the carpet" and said the report must act as a "wake-up call" to the community. [...]
One in four Jewish women are victims of domestic abuse, according to the largest survey of its kind.
The Jewish Women's Aid study, You know a Jewish woman suffering from domestic abuse: Domestic abuse and the British Jewish community, found that 26 per cent of the 842 people surveyed had personally experienced domestic abuse.
Despite a third admitting they thought abuse in the Jewish community would not be the same as the rest of society, the number of Jewish woman abused is two per cent higher than the national average.
Jewish leaders have criticised communal organisations for "sweeping this problem under the carpet" and said the report must act as a "wake-up call" to the community. [...]
Police in Los Angeles Step Up Efforts to Gain Muslims’ Trust
NYTimes
The question of whether American Muslims do, or do not, cooperate with law enforcement agents in preventing potential terrorist attacks is at the heart of Congressional hearings that begin Thursday in Washington. The hearings have been called by Representative Peter T. King, a Republican from Long Island, N.Y., and chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. He says that American Muslims do not cooperate, and that he will call witnesses who will prove it.
But in Los Angeles, home to one of the largest and most diverse Muslim populations in the country, the picture is far more encouraging, though there are still challenges. And it has one of the most assertive multidepartmental efforts in the country, along with New York, to overcome mistrust and engage Muslims as allies in preventing terrorism, according to law enforcement experts.
"We're not going to win the war against terrorism without Muslims," said Leroy D. Baca, the Los Angeles County sheriff, in an interview in his office. Mr. Baca will be called as a witness at the hearings on Thursday. [...]
The question of whether American Muslims do, or do not, cooperate with law enforcement agents in preventing potential terrorist attacks is at the heart of Congressional hearings that begin Thursday in Washington. The hearings have been called by Representative Peter T. King, a Republican from Long Island, N.Y., and chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. He says that American Muslims do not cooperate, and that he will call witnesses who will prove it.
But in Los Angeles, home to one of the largest and most diverse Muslim populations in the country, the picture is far more encouraging, though there are still challenges. And it has one of the most assertive multidepartmental efforts in the country, along with New York, to overcome mistrust and engage Muslims as allies in preventing terrorism, according to law enforcement experts.
"We're not going to win the war against terrorism without Muslims," said Leroy D. Baca, the Los Angeles County sheriff, in an interview in his office. Mr. Baca will be called as a witness at the hearings on Thursday. [...]
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