Discussing idolatry - parameters

We recently discussed the view of the Gra that a common name is not prohibited to mention - even if it describes a person by that name who becomes viewed as a deity. What about talking or teaching about the idolatry of the Romans or Greeks? The following is a teshuva of Rav Moshe Feinsetein concerning someone whose much teach these matters - what are the guidelines

Rav Moshe Feinstein[1](Yoreh Deah 2:53): It seems obvious that the prohibition of paying attention to idolatry is only in regards to the books that the idolaters themselves composed to praise the nonsensical practices of idolatry. They thought that the practices were glorious. And such books are prohibited forever – even in a time when idolatry is not taken seriously and is not attractive to people. However those books which were composed by those who reject idolatry and view idolatry as nonsense and stupid and just illustrate the ridiculous practices of idolatry – they would not be prohibited even in a time when idolatry was rampant. We even find in the Bible that there are descriptions of idolatry but that is only to denigrate idolatry and thus it is not prohibited. Therefore it is obvious that one would not prohibit these type of books now when there is no attraction to idolatry when they were not prohibited even when idolatry was rampant. Therefore when teaching a course about these historical practice of idolatry and its nonsense, it is necessary to speak in such a way that the students understand that these practices are ridiculous. It should be taught with the attitude of how this ridiculous practice was done even though some one with only half a brain is disgusted by them. This approach is found in Megila (25b): “All ridicule is prohibited except for the ridicule of idolatry which is permitted.” Thus if idolatry is denigrated it is permitted to teach about it.

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[1] אגרות משה (יורה דעה ב:נג): אבל נראה פשוט שהאיסור הוא רק בספרים שחברו העכו"ם שעובדים להע"ז שהם כתבו זה לשבחה בדברי הבל ושטות שנדמה להם שהוא שבח שספרים כאלו נאסרו בשביל הטעם בלאו דאל תפנו ונאסר לעולם אף כשיתבטל הטעם שלא ימשכו בנ"א בדבריהם הטפשיים, אבל ספרים שנתחברו מכופרים בע"ז ההיא שהוא רק להתלוצץ בהם ולבזותם במה שמספרים הבלותם ושטותם לא נאסר גם אז, ומצינו גם בקראי שמספרים מעבודתם אבל כיון שהוא באופן שהוא לבזות ולהתלוצץ אינו כלום. וכ"ש שאין לאסור עתה מה שלא היה אסור אז. וא"כ כשצריך ללמד בהקורס שלו עניני דתיהם והבליהם, צריך לדבר בלשון שיבינו שהם עניני שטות והבל איך שדבר הבל זה עשו ודבר הבל זה אשר אפילו קצת בן דעת ימאס בזה וכהא שאמר ר"נ במגילה (כה:) כל ליצנותא אסירא בר מליצנותא דעכו"ם דשריא. ובאופן זה מותר...

Death by Timer III - Passive Euthanasia/R'Feinstein/R' Auerbach

This is an excerpt from Prof Reznicoff's article at JLaw dealing with Euthanasia

a.Treatment that will only temporarily prolong a patient's painful condition

Some authorities think that the degree of pain someone experiences will only in truly exceptional cases excuse someone from the duty to prolong her life.¹⁰⁸ Others seem less reluctant in ruling that terminally ill patients in great pain can refuse treatment that will only prolong their agonizing existence. Of course, as a practical matter, this debate is only relevant in those instances in which the pain is medically uncontrollable. Where it is controllable, it should be controlled.

Those who appear less reluctant often rely on the Talmudic discussion of the final illness of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, known as Rebbe, the compiler of the Mishnah. Rebbe was suffering greatly.¹⁰⁹ Both the rabbis and Rebbe's devoted female servant, well-known for her devotion and intelligence, prayed around the clock for Rebbe's complete recovery.¹¹⁰ As time passed, however, Rebbe's servant saw that the prayers were not to be fulfilled. Although Rebbe remained alive, he suffered excruciating pain. Finally, she concluded that it would be better forRebbe if he were to die, and she prayed for that.¹¹¹ But she soon saw that her prayer would not be accepted so long as the rabbis continued their unabated prayers for Rebbe's recovery. She therefore threw an urn from the roof of the academy to the ground, smashing it and startling the rabbis, causing a brief halt in their prayers. At that moment, Rebbe died.¹¹²

Many commentators cite the conduct of Rebbe's servant as evidence that someone who sees another who is greatly afflicted and there is no meaningful prospect for alleviating or curing the person's pain should pray for that person's death.¹¹³ Not all commentators, however, agree that one should pray for another's death even under these circumstances.¹¹⁴ In addition, at least one authority, Rabbi Haim Palaggi, states that persons who might have an improper bias, such as those responsible to care for the patient, should certainly not pray for the patient's death.¹¹⁵

Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, however, states that this Talmudic episode not only justifies praying for a person's death but also calls for the rejection of life-sustaining medical treatment for terminally ill patients who can live no longer than few weeks or so and who are experiencing excruciating pain. If the treatment can only temporarily prolong their life of agony, Rabbi Feinstein argues that non-treatment is appropriate,¹¹⁶ while repeating that, of course, no affirmative act to terminate the patient's life is permissible. Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach similarly considers a patient's pain and suffering in ruling that it is permissible for a person to refuse surgery that, even if successful at saving her life, would cause her to remain paralyzed for life.¹¹⁷

Among the authorities that agree with the Feinstein-Auerbach approach, some take it a step further as a practical matter. While Feinstein and Auerbach would generally call for the use of medical technology to provide hydration, nutrition and oxygen to terminally-ill patients even though they experience unrelenting pain,¹¹⁸ some contemporary authorities are said to permit rejection of these services as well.¹¹⁹

There seem to be two principal ways of perceiving the conceptual framework for the Feinstein-Auerbach approach. One possibility is that it generalizes the Rema's rule for removing obstacles preventing a goses from dying.¹²⁰ Feinstein, for instance, believes that there is metaphysical pain associated with the process of gesisah. Consequently, a terminally ill person who has little time to live and who is experiencing unmanageable pain may seem quite similar to a goses.¹²¹ With respect to a goses, for instance, a few authorities have suggested that the removal of a respirator would be permissible, because the respirator is perceived as merely preventing the patient's death rather than as providing physiologically enhancing treatment.¹²² Similarly, Feinstein forbids initial use of such machines to prolong the life of a terminally ill patient who suffers from severe, intractable pain.¹²³ Once the machine is attached, however, Feinstein believes that disconnection would be an improper affirmative act. If it became disconnected, however, he would not necessarily require reconnection.¹²⁴ To avoid a debate as to whether disconnection is an impermissible affirmative act, some authorities have suggested that the machines be controlled by automatic timers which, when time ran out, would be the equivalent of a disconnection. A patient's status could then be re-evaluated to determine if the timer should be reset.¹²⁵

There are a number of problems with the analogy to a goses. First, of course, the Feinstein-Auerbach approach is squarely at odds with the many authorities who believe that medical intervention is required even to save the life of a goses. Second, how much pain would the terminal patient have to be experiencing in order to be compared to a goses? Third, how short a period of time must the terminally ill patient have to live before she is compared to a goses? Fourth, how confidently can a person quantify her pain or predict when she will expire?

Moreover, is it really persuasive to argue that the fact one can pray for death means that one can refuse treatment? Those who disagree with the Feinstein-Auerbach position, for instance, argue that while one is alive, one has the duty to perform commandments, including the commandment to prolong one's life. Praying for death is not inconsistent with fulfillment of this duty. A person can always ask the Master of the Universe to release her from her duty. Meanwhile, however, the duty has got to be done.¹²⁶

Bleich suggests a different way to understand the Feinstein-Auerbach approach, based on inherent limits as to what a person is required to do to fulfill a biblical commandment. Jewish law characterizes biblical commandments as either negative or affirmative. Jewish law requires that one forfeit all of one's wealth to passively avoid violation of a negative commandment,¹²⁷ and requires use of no more than 20% of one's wealth to fulfill an affirmative commandment.¹²⁸

In a different context, when asked whether it was permitted to take an organ from a cadaver to make a life-saving transplant against the wishes of the deceased's surviving relatives, Feinstein replied in the negative. He stated that such treatment of the corpse would presumably cause the surviving relatives to suffer more emotional distress than would the loss of their entire fortunes.¹²⁹ There is considerable debate as to whether the duty to prolong one's life and/or to save another's life is a negative or affirmative commandment.¹³⁰ Nonetheless, Feinstein may be justifying a person's right to refuse medical treatment in cases involving excruciating pain on the assumption that the patients would be willing to give up their entire fortunes rather than suffer for a more prolonged period.¹³¹ If so, however, Bleich questions how often this assumption would be correct, particularly in light of improved palliation procedures.¹³²

Death by Timer II - Euthanasia/ Passive vs. Active

Arutz Sheva wrote:

(IsraelNN.com) After suffering a stroke last year, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon remains in a coma. Where once the world followed Sharon?s every political move, medical details now dominate the news. Few believe that Sharon will recover, but no effort has been spared to try and keep him alive.

Yet some would argue that prolonging life in such a manner is cruel. That in fact, ending life in such circumstances would be the more compassionate alternative. Such is the argument put forth by proponents of euthanasia and ironically, it is in Israel that they have had their most recent success.

Late last year, the Knesset signed a new bill into law that somehow manages to approve euthanasia according to Jewish law. While it is forbidden for a person to take another?s life under Jewish law, having a machine do it for you has apparently been deemed kosher. As a parliamentary spokesman put it, ?The point was that it is wrong, under Jewish law, for a person?s life to be taken by a person but, for a
machine, it is acceptable.?

The machine in question is a special timer attached to patients respirators. After 12 hours it sounds an alarm and then at the end of a 24-hour cycle, it turns off the respirator. The alarm would normally be overridden unless certain conditions are met, such as the consent of the (over 17) patient or legal guardian. The patient or guardian can request an extension at any time and living wills are to be kept on file at all hospitals.

The device is similar to the special clocks used by orthodox Jews to turn off electrical devices during the Sabbath. But where one application allows a bypassing of Jewish law that doesn?t harm another human being, the other delves into more troubling territory. One might call it a death timer.

According to Jewish law, suicide is forbidden and while one cannot hasten the death of another person, lessening their pain is encouraged. Both active and passive euthanasia fall under the category of ending life, but there is some leeway in the stipulation that prolonging life through artificial means is discouraged. However, the act of actually turning off respirators or unplugging feeding tubes would entail causing another?s death. But now a machine can do the dirty work for you.

Israeli society has been heading towards legalized euthanasia for some time now. Last year, a Tel Aviv court ruled that a 59-year-old terminally ill patient should be allowed to disconnect from life support machines. The disconnection was supervised by two doctors but the rest of the procedure had to be undertaken privately, in the presence of family members only. The euthanasia device will allow doctors to circumvent such messy complications.

What's astounding about the Israeli example is the emphasis placed on morality in pursuit of an amoral policy. Israel?s health minister Danny Naveh provided a glimpse into this bizarre mindset when he described the law as a great moral achievement for the dying and their families.?

The fact that a committee composed of physicians, scientists, medical ethicists, social workers, philosophers, nurses, lawyers, judges and religious leaders somehow saw fit to recommend the bill is similarly disturbing. The committee was headed by Prof. Avraham Steinberg, an Orthodox rabbi, pediatric neurologist, medical ethicist and, according
to the Jerusalem Post, ?winner of the Israel Prize for his work on Jewish medical ethics.? That someone with this background would consent to such a law certainly does not bode well for the future of medical ethics in Israel.

If there's any country that should heed the lessons of history when it comes to euthanasia, it?s Israel. After all, Nazi Germany was a sinister example of what can happen to a seemingly civilized society that treads the path of euthanasia. For the Nazis, euthanasia became an obsession, eventually resulting in the belief in eugenics or the achievement of a genetically superior race. Jews, gypsies, gays, communists, German dissenters, and others were experimented on and finally targeted for extermination under the rationale that they were inferior.

Of course, Israel is nothing like Nazi Germany, despite the oft-repeated claims of its enemies. But as a modern society and a leader in the field of medicine, it is as susceptible as any to the ethical pitfalls of euthanasia. If we look to other countries such as the Netherlands, where euthanasia is legal and extends to infants and children, the implications become clearer. Belgium has followed suit, while France and Great Britain are not far behind. In the United States, Oregon?s physician-assisted suicide law continues to be a test case for the rest of the country.

As far as religious leadership, one must turn mostly to Catholics and other Christians for the defense of ?life issues? such as euthanasia. Meanwhile, mainstream Jewish leaders in America act as if euthanasia and abortion are the pillars of Judaism. Groups such as Jews for Life are one of the few exceptions to the rule, not to mention the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, which has consistently lobbied against euthanasia and in favor of increased palliative care for the dying.

In legalizing machine-induced euthanasia, Israel is setting a worldwide precedent for the medical establishment. Indeed, doctors in other countries are already expressing an interest in the euthanasia device because it alleviates them of the guilt they might feel in turning off dying patients' respirators themselves. Now that a machine can do it for them, doctors need no longer be encumbered by the 'uncomfortable' feelings surrounding ending patients' lives.

Israelis have made many contributions to the fields of science, medicine and technology. Do they really want death by machine to be part of this legacy?

Conversion - Chinese descendants of Jews

YNET reports:

Descendants of centuries-old Jewish community in China's Kaifeng rediscover Jewish heritage after near complete assimilation in local community.

In Chinese terms, the city of Kaifeng, about 500 miles southwest of Beijing, is reminiscent of the Israeli city of Hadera: The number of its residents is 700,000 – as opposed to Beijing's 15 million or Shanghai's 20 million – and it doesn't even have its own airport.

However, a thousand years ago, Kaifeng was the capital of the Chinese empire, the largest, richest and most advanced in the world at the time, with 600,000 residents that made it the most populated city on earth.

Ancient Kaifeng had a Jewish community – a small but thriving one, whose story is unique in the history of the Jewish people. For the 800 years of its existence, Kaifeng's Jews never suffered from persecution or discrimination. The Chinese authorities, as well as the general population, welcomed their Jewish neighbors, viewed them as citizens in every respect and allowed them to observe their religion with complete freedo

In spite, or perhaps because of these freedoms, the community dwindled until about one hundred and fifty years ago, when the assimilation and integration proved complete. It is only in the past 20 years that the descendents of Kaifeng Jewry, who now number about 1,000 people, have rediscovered their Jewish tradition. Some of them have considered undergoing proper conversion and making aliyah, and a few of them have done so already

Thirty-year-old Shi Lei does not try to hide his excitement when he takes his guest, an Israeli journalist, to the central room in his parents' home. His family, which is of Jewish descent, has lived in this home for more than 100 years. After the death of his grandmother and grandfather, Shi, together with his father, turned this room into a mini-museum and a small Jewish center, where he gives classes on Jewish tradition to children and adults of Jewish descent.

Shi Lei, who graduated with a degree in English from the University of Kaifeng, spent close to three years in Israel studying at Jerusalem's Machon Meir and at Bar-Ilan University: "I was the first person from Kaifeng that studied in Israel. I was privileged to receive a wonderful welcome at the Machon Meir yeshiva, and I was treated as a Jew in every respect, although I am not technically a Jew according to Jewish law, and had not yet undergone conversion.

"I decided to return to Kaifeng and to develop my mini-museum, because if I would leave here then there would be no one to teach the younger generation. We feel connected to the Jewish people and to the State of Israel – it's in our blood"

Chareidim vs. Secular III - Chareidim are now 48 % of all students in Jerusalem

YNET reported:

The trend of growing numbers of ultra-Orthodox students in Jerusalem continues, with 48% of all students in the capital this year set to attend the haredi school system, according to a Jerusalem city hall press release.

The press release, which was sent to the media by the municipality's spokesperson's office, made headlines at haredi newspaper. Overall, 87,020 students will begin their studies at Orthodox institutions this year, in addition to roughly 13,000 who also attend haredi schools, albeit ones unrecognized by the state.

Meanwhile, 56,550 students will be studying at Jewish non-Orthodox schools, and another 41,140 students will attend Arab schools. Some thousands of other Arab students study at unofficial schools.
"These figures join the impressive rise in the number of students in the ultra-Orthodox education system in the past five years – roughly 11%," the press release said.

Notably, both secular and religious (non-Orthodox) Jerusalem residents have been fighting in recent years against the intention to close down non-haredi schools because of low registration numbers. In other cases, secular residents fought against city hall's attempt to hand over land designated for non-Orthodox schools for the purpose of building haredi schools.

Anonymous comments II - rejecting them is big mistake!

GUEST POST: Recipients and Publicity'S comment to "Anonymous comments - automatically rejected":

garnel, I must say that you have done more harm than good here with this suggestion that Dr. Eidensohn has incredibly taken you up on, and I wish he hadn't.

Just how many people do you think read this blog? And surely of those, it is a VERY small fraction that wish to post ANY comments and even fewer who wish to post anonymous comments. And of all those, ALMOST all are highly intelligent and experienced BLOGGERS who can follow the comments of MANY anonymous posters simultaneously, especially since Dr. Eidensohn keeps his own main posts essentially brief, and most posts have historically not drawn more than a handful of comments (usually less than ten) on this daas torah blog and the one time that a post recently drew a little over twenty comments with a perhaps less than half being anonymous, you press Dr. Eidensohn's panic buttons and he responds to YOU alone for some odd reasons, and he then willingly sets up a new self-defeating policy based on YOUR narrow and tendentious input alone because ONLY you seem to have had trouble with following posts by anonymous posters. If you are that cognitively challenged it may indicate something else not related to blogging (how much do you know about blogging and posting on the web by the way?) but this phony "cure" of literally forcing people to take on ID's (like cyber yellow stars, lehavdil) is coercive and silly in the extreme and with all the bold announcements it makes this Blog seem somewhat stilted and comical and intellectually challenged, unable to hold up to rigorous debate with comments coming in at a steady rate, not quite at lightning speed ever, you must admit (as Dr. Eidensohn does not allow automatic postings and insists on reading each new post himself) and claiming to be artificially worried that comments can be "sneaked on" here when Dr. Eidensohn as this blog's owner has all the power to edit out and remove any and all posts at will and not just anonymous ones. Even me having to argue this with you is such a waste, but it sems you don't get what you are doing to harm this blog's heretofore dynamism and fluidity.

Who knows, soon we may even be told that no comments will be allowed unless we first click on the "PayPal" button and make a donation to Dr. Eidensohn for the "privilge" to post a comment, like some kind of cyber-toll, since you have already come up with your own cyber-censoring and digital excision of anonymous comments, because who can tell where things will lead once people start making up their own crazy infantile excuses-for-rules in the name of "helpfulness"?

So that this silly ban of anonymous postings is a scare tactic that works AGAINST the interests of the blog and its owner who should desire and relish MORE traffic and interest in his posts and not create fake barriers that put people off.

To repeat, posting anonymously is assumed to be a UNIVERSAL virtual right (good pun!) in the Blogosphere by EVERYONE, which works far different to USENET or Email lists.

Bloggers EXPECT and indeed deserve more lattitude in how to name and frame their posts, and if they wish to be anonymous, provided they are polite and reasonable, their is no reason to ban them outright as if they were some sort of "new kind od treif" which they are most certainly not!

Admit it, you made a mistaken and clearly INEXPERIENCED feeble suggestion and in turn Dr. Eidensohn as this blog's owner who is anxious to please and streamiline made a poor decision to his own detriment. Maybe when his posts attract hundreds of anonymous posters each he would get nervous, but quite honestly the UOJ blog has allowed hundreds of anonymous psost when he deems them appropriate and noone has ever complained of confusion.

When in doubt ask questions and seek clarifications but do not stifle people'e rights to answer any way they please, including anonymously.

So why do you have to assume that people posting and reading this blog are more thin skinned and by implication more dim-witted than UOJ's anonymous posters when they are clearly quite the opposite.

So have the guts to withdraw your suggestion because as you can already see, rather than encouraging more comments, it actually reduces and stifles them, and we all lose because many fascinating and important statements and arguments are often made by anymous posts and posters.

Chabad II - Rav Schach/Disputing attack on him

GUEST POST: yoni's comment to "Chabad - Rav Schach/Disputing attack on him":

Despite Rav Shach's opposition to Rav Schneersohn he nevertheless recited Tehillim when Rav Schneerson fell ill. Rav Shach explained “My battle is against his erroneous approach, against the movement, but not against the people in any personal way. I pray for the Rebbe’s recovery and simultaneously, also pray that he abandon his invalid way.”[12]

Rav Shach wrote [13] that he was not at all opposed to chassidim and chassidus (including Chassidus Chabad from the previous generations[14]); he said he recognized them as "yera'im" and "shlaymim" and full of Torah and Mitzvos and fear of heaven.[15] Shach often said and wrote that the slander spread against him about his persecution of chassidim was something he could never forgive, for it had transformed him into a baal machlokes, a disputant, at a time when he loved peace and pursued it to the nth degree.[12] He is quoted as saying, "We are fighting against secularism in the yeshivas. Today, besiyata deShmaya people are learning Torah in both Chassidic and Lithuanian yeshivos. In my view there is no difference between them; all of them are important and dear to me. In fact, go ahead and ask your Chassidic friends with us at Ponevezh if I distinguish between Chassidic and Lithuanian bochurim."[16]

12 ^ http://chareidi.shemayisrael.com/archives5766/eikev/olubvlornczekv66.htm

13 ^ Michtavim U'Maamaromim 5:533 (pg. 137)

14 ^ Michtavim U'Maamorim 2:23 (pg. 31) 1986 edition.

15 ^ Michtavim U'Maamaromim 5:534 (pg. 138)

16 ^ http://chareidi.shemayisrael.com/archives5763/TZR63features2.htm

Chabad II - The one true form of Judaism?

GUEST POST: yoni's comment to "Chabad - The one true form of Judaism?":

"Rabbi Eidensohn, here is some relevant material:"

Rav Schneerson stressed the importance of studying Hasidic philosophy, in particular the philoshophy of Chabad,[25] saying that "Chassidus Chabad is the preparation to the study of the Torah of Mashiach in the future..."[26] and that Chabad Chassidus is "the true Torah of the Baal Shem Tov" [27]

Rav Schneerson spoke very highly of the six Chabad Rebbes that preceded him, in particular his father-in-law, the sixth Rebbe. He described certain types of souls with whom "it is as before the Tzimtzum", who see G-dliness as obvious and require proof that existence is also real. He gave Moses and the Rebbes of Chabad as examples of such "souls of Atzilus".[33]

Rav Schneerson mentioned that the Chabad Rebbes "trace their lineage back to the Davidic line, of the tribe of Judah",[34] and says of his father, Rav Levi Yitzchak Schneerson, that he too “descends from the offspring of David".[35]

He referred to his father-in-law as "the Nasi (leader) of our generation”, “the only messiah of our generation”,[36] and one "who in his own right is incomparably greater than the people of his generation", whom G-d had chosen and designated to be, "'your judges' and 'your instructors',[37] and the prophet of the generation, who will give rulings and instructions relevant to the avodah (divine service) of all Jews, and all people in this generation, in all matters of Torah and Mitzvos, and also about general day to day living, and also about 'all your actions'".[38] Rav Schneerson said that "one who does not fufill a takana or custom which the Previous Rebbe instituted, it's as if he is not fufilling a commandment in the Torah." [39]

On the birthday of the Tzemach Tzedek, the third Rebbe of Chabad, he said, "May we immediately merit the fulfillment of the promise, 'As in the days of your Exodus from Egypt, I will show you wonders',[40] with the coming of Moshiach, whose name is 'Menachem'[41] like the name of the Tzemach Tzedek - may he come and redeem us, and lead us proudly to our land."[42]

Regarding the Ushpizzin (spiritual "guests") of Sukkot, he said in the name of his father-in-law (in the name of his father, the Rebbe Rashab [43]) that besides the traditional ushpizzin mentioned in the Zohar (Abraham, Isaac, etc.) there are also "our Ushpizzin: The Baal Shem Tov, the Maggid, the Alter Rebbe, the Mitteler Rebbe, the Tzemach Tzedek, the Rebbe Maharash, and the Rebbe Rashab",[44], and added that "Since my revered father-in-law, the Rebbe, was the successor of these seven nesi'im, it can be understood that he comes on the eighth day, Shemini Atzeres."[45]

25 ^ See Likutei Sichot (Vol. 30, pp. 170-176)

26 ^ Shabbos Parshas Tazria, Parshas HaChodesh, 27th Day of Adar II, 5744. See http://www.sichosinenglish.org/books/sichos-in-english/20/07.htm

27 ^ Toras Menachem, Vol. 20, 5717(3), 18th of Elul, page 237. See also Likutei Sichot (Vol. 10, Additions regarding 19th of Kislev, pg. 239, Letter from 5th of Adar Rishon)

33 ^ Sefer HaMaamarim, 5715, V'nigleh K'vod Havaya

34 ^ Shabbos Shemos, 5752, ch. 13

35 ^ Sefer Hasichos 5749, vol 2, p. 650

36 ^ Sefer HaSichos, 5752, pg. 97

37 ^ cf Isaiah 1:26

38 ^ Sefer HaSichos, Shoftim, 7 Elul 5751 (August 17th 1991). A straightforward reading of this discourse identifies this figure as the Rebbe's deceased father-in-law. For many of the Hasidim, however, the real referent was the the Rebbe himself, who was thought to share the soul of his predecessor. The Rebbe, the Messiah, and the Scandal of Orthodox Indifference by David Berger, 2001, Littman Library of Jewish Civilization of Portland. Page 56.

39 ^ Toras Menachem, Vol. 4, 5712 (1), page 282. See also Toras Menachem, Hisvaduyus 1, starting on page 163.

40 ^ Micha 7:15

41 ^ Yerushalmi Berachot 2:4; Eicha Rabba 1:51

42 ^ Erev Rosh Hashanah, 5744, Hisvaduyos, unedited

43 ^ Hisvaduyus, 5746, Vol. 1, pg. 295

44 ^ Toras Menachem, 4, 5712, pg. 34. Ibid., 21, 5718, pg. 43. Ibid., 24, 5719, pg. 65. Ibid., 27, 5720, pg. 27. Ibid., 29, 5721, pg. 38.

45 ^ Likkutei Sichot - Volume VI: Bereishis An Anthology of Talks Relating to the weekly sections of the Torah and Special occasions in the Jewish calendar , Sichos in English (Adapted from Sichos Rosh Chodesh Kislev, 5712; Sichos Acharon Shel Pesach, 5721). http://www.sichosinenglish.org/books/likkutei-sichot-6/12.htm

Chareidim vs Secular II - allocating classrooms in secular neighborhoods

YNET reports:

The question whether or not one child and a dog are worth more than 10 children ignited a heated argument in a Jerusalem council meeting Thursday evening. The topics thrown around during the argument included army service and Nazi Germany, and it all began because of a kindergarten.

Jerusalem city council meetings are known for their temper, but with the mayoral elections coming up, it seems like the boiling point is getting closer by the day.
In recent years, some secular residents of Jerusalem have been arriving at the meetings in a bid to have their complaints heard. On Thursday, the secular residents of the Kiryat Yovel neighborhood came to protest the plan to place several caravans which would be used as a kindergarten for ultra-Orthodox children. According to local residents, this is an attempt by the haredi residents to take over their secular neighborhood.
This time the members of the religious coalition in city hall foresaw the future and filled most of the seats in the meeting hall with their supporters. Dozens of Kiryat Yovel residents were left out of the meeting and city hall.
When the discussion turned to the subject of the kindergarten, things started to get ugly. The most heated exchange took place between city councilman Rabbi Avraham Feiner of United Torah Judaism (UTJ) Pepe Alallo, chairman of the local Meretz faction.

'Shame on you, you anti-Semite'
Rabbi Feiner called towards Alallo, "We, thank God, have 10-12 children. Where are these children supposed to study if not in their kindergartens? And you, what do you have? One child and a dog?"

Alallo responded by saying, "This dog pays more taxes than you do! Pays more property taxes than you!"

Feiner responded, "The question of a Jewish takeover was present in Nazi Germany as well, and that question is present here as well."

After Feiner made this comment, a commotion broke out in the meeting hall. Some members of the audience even tried to approach the different councilmen present but were held back, and were eventually escorted out by security.

"Shame on you, you anti-Semite, may your 10 children serve in the army like we did," cried out one of the secular members of the crowd.

The discussion itself was accompanied by catcalls from the audience, and as a result went on for a considerable time. All requests by the residents of Kiryat Yovel to cancel the planned kindergarten were rejected by council. In the last several weeks, ground work has begun in the location of the proposed kindergarten, and local residents have been attempting to stop the construction. [...]

Chareidim vs Secular - allocating unused classrooms

JPost reports:

The latest episode in the saga of the lack of educational structures for haredim in the city is taking place in Kiryat Hayovel. About a week ago, the municipality placed two caravans in a public plot on Rehov Warburg to serve as kindergarten classes for haredi children. It didn't take long for the area's largely secular residents to voice opposition, with the chairman of the neighborhood administration, Kobi Cohen, saying he felt "betrayed, humiliated and outraged" by the development.

"For years I have been known for my tolerance and my unshakable attitude that a child is a child, no matter whether he is haredi, secular or Arab. Every child in this city deserves the best affordable education and I have credentials for having acted accordingly, including many cases where I had to convince my constituency, who were not exactly ready to accept those compromises," says Cohen.

"But this time they've gone too far. Rabbi [Deputy Mayor Yehoshua] Pollack acted like a thief in the night, exactly as if his only goal was to upset the tenuous and fragile relationship between haredim and secular in this neighborhood," continues Cohen. "You can quote me on this: As long as I am chairman of the neighborhood administration here, neither Pollack nor any other haredi will force on us any caravan or any other solution that doesn't suit us."

The struggle to secure educational structures for haredim is not a new one. Since the creation of the state, the haredi education system has operated largely independently of local, regional and national guidelines, setting its own curriculum and securing some of its own funding - including for the construction of its schools. Trying to raise donations to keep pace with the number of pupils enrolled, haredim often find themselves without classrooms for their children.

The result has been a trend of last-minute, interim municipal solutions - including offering empty classrooms in otherwise non-haredi schools and areas - which over time become permanent arrangements, arousing the anger of secular residents.

"It's as if they [haredim] have some special watchers units - as soon as registration is on the decline at a school in a secular area, they come [to the municipality] and request one or two classrooms, and once they obtain it, they come back and ask for the entire building," says Meretz city councillor and Comptroller Committee head Pepe Alalu.

"Don't get me wrong," he adds. "They [the haredim] genuinely suffer from a lack of classrooms, it's just that they are not acting as if they really want to solve the problem - I would say it is the opposite."

According to a municipality-commissioned report drafted in 2006 by planning specialist Moshe Cohen, the process of taking over state school buildings is part of a systematic plan to entrench haredim in secular areas.

Page 24 of the report reads: "Haredi institutions might serve as groundbreakers to create new haredi communities in surroundings where they had no foothold before. The haredi institution - usually a yeshiva - will be set in a surrounding where there are no other haredi institutions or haredi dwellings, but the location of that educational institution, in this case a yeshiva, will become a source of attraction for additional haredi families to join in."

The report was never released or debated by the city council.

IN RESPONSE to queries from In Jerusalem, Dor Fuchs, head of the construction department of the haredi branch of Manhi (Jerusalem Education Administration), said there was no way he or anyone at the department could know exactly how many classrooms were lacking for haredim. "Since the haredi education system is recognized but unofficial, anyone can open a school or a Talmud Torah [haredi elementary school]. The only thing needed is a safety permit for insurance purposes," he explains.

"So if after one or two or five years a haredi principal says he has three times more children in his institution than when he opened it, mainly because after a while he gets fewer donations from abroad, and he now needs public money, there's nothing we can do about it" other than to allocate more money, he continues. "This education system is not planned, [problems] are not always anticipated and we always have to face situations on the ground, usually emergencies for lack of classrooms.

"Every admor [head of a sect] wants his school or his Talmud Torah, and there's no law that forbids it."

Fuchs says that according to Manhi figures for the haredi sector, about 90,000 pupils are expected for the coming school year. "But the problem is the [lack of] educational structures," he says. "In the regular education system, there is no need to build a new school every year - there are already existing buildings and the most that might need to be done is annual renovations.

"We [Manhi] have an estimation, and I stress it's only an estimation, that we're lacking about 500 classrooms [for haredim] for this year," he continues. "But there's no way we can tell what it will look like next year. It's also because the key to calculating the space needed for new schools is different for haredi schools and secular and religious state institutions.

"The average [non-haredi] school at the Education Ministry is 1,400 square meters for 16 classrooms. For reasons I cannot understand or explain, the construction department at the ministry allots only 750 sq.m. for a 16-classroom [haredi] school."

The result, says Fuchs, is that at haredi girls' schools it's not unusual for there to be more than 45 pupils in a class. "So when we know, for example, that the Ort School in Ramot, which can hold 1,500 pupils, stands half-empty, and has been for a few years since fewer secular pupils are registering there, while we are experiencing such a difficult situation, it's not hard to understand why we keep on asking to be given these empty classrooms," explains Fuchs.

"And what's more, as far as the Education Ministry is concerned, that's exactly its position: It doesn't care if the empty classrooms are in a haredi, religious or secular area; it says that if you have pupils without classrooms on the one hand and empty classrooms on the other hand, please make use of them before asking for more money to build."

Pollack has a more straightforward take on the situation. "One thing is clear," he says. "We have babies. You, the secular, obviously are busy doing something else - you're not having babies - so we need the place for our kids."[...]

Life support on a timer?

Bartley Kulp suggested Rabbis:New Life support tech 'murder' in JPost

To Rabbi Eidenson, this is a an article that is rife with halachic, hashgafic and political issues.

A technology soon to be introduced in local hospitals that automatically turns off life-support systems at the request of terminally ill patients has been denounced by a prominent group of rabbis as a desecration of God's name. 'Timer ventilator' allows patients the choice to have their life support cut off automatically. The technology is "tantamount to murder," according to the rabbis, who are aligned with the Ashkenazi haredi community's most respected living halachic authority, Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv.

"If the Health Ministry goes ahead with its plans to implement a technology that shortens the lives of terminally ill patients, the nations of the world will say that Judaism condones transgressing one of the Ten Commandments - Thou Shalt not Kill," Rabbi Ya'acov Weiner said last week. "That would be a terrible desecration of God's name."

Weiner, who heads the Jerusalem Center for Research, Medicine and Halacha, made the comments at a conference on Jewish medical ethics, organized by the center for the past 11 years, that brings together religious doctors and Halacha experts. Weiner and other rabbis who spoke at the conference, including a senior representative of Elyashiv, said the Terminally Ill Patient Law, approved by the Knesset in 2006, contradicted Jewish law.

They specifically targeted a technology condoned in the new law that allows a terminally ill patient to choose to be connected to a ventilator that is automatically turned off by a timer at a future date. The timer ventilator, which is in its last stages of development, will be introduced in hospitals in coming months. Meanwhile, proponents of the "timer ventilator," including many Orthodox rabbis and doctors, argue that while Jewish law prohibits pulling the plug, it permits refraining from reactivating the ventilator once it has automatically been turned off by the timer.

However, organizers of the conference said that "greatest rabbis of the generation" reject the use of the "timer ventilator." They said that in addition to Elyashiv, other prominent halachic authorities also opposed it, including Rabbi Moshe Sternbach of the Edah Haredit and Rabbi Zalman Nechemia Goldberg of the High Rabbinic Court. Rabbi Yehoshua Neuwirth, an author of a definitive book on the laws of Shabbat called Shmirat Shabbat K'hilchata (Observing Shabbat's Laws), told a contingent from the conference who visited his home on Tuesday that use of the "timer ventilator" was "murder," organizers said. [...]

Conspicuously absent from the conference, which took place in Jerusalem's Bayit Vagan neighborhood, were rabbis and religious doctors who support the use of the timer ventilator and had backed the Terminally Ill Patient Law.

Dr. Rabbi Mordechai Halperin, who was a member of the Steinberg Multi-Disciplinary Health Ministry committee that helped prepare the legislation, said many prominent rabbis supported the use of such ventilators. The committee was headed by Prof. Avraham Steinberg, a neurologist and halachic expert. "Many halachic authorities permit the use of the timer on condition that it is activated before the terminally ill patient is initially connected," Halperin said. "Once the patient is hooked up to a ventilator without a timer it is forbidden to activate a timer. In the legislation it is specifically stated that doing so would be a punishable offense. "The other conditions for allowing the use of the timer are that the patient is in severe pain and that he expressly asks for the option of using the timer," he said. The spring issue of Asia, a journal of Jewish medical ethics, features letters from two prominent rabbis supporting the use of the timer ventilator. One of the letters is from Rabbi Avigdor Nebenzahl, former rabbi of the Old City of Jerusalem. The other letter is from the same Neuwirth whom the conference organizers had claimed was adamantly opposed to the use of the timer ventilator. [...]

RaP & Reading Comprehension

What follows is a comment by RaP regarding 1) my alleged mission to destroy chassidus 2) my hypocrisy at using Chassidic sources 3) his obsession with my apparent incompetence or lack of contact with reality.

RaP it would be nice if you used your intelligence for something other than your gross misreadings of my postings.

Recipients and Publicity's comment "Jesus & Shabsai Tzvi fell from high levels of holi...":

Dr. Eidensohn/daas torah I have a question for you: After you have spent so much time earlier quoting source that negated and devalued Chasidism, such as your famous citation from the Klausenburger Rebbe that latter day rebbelach are like headless floundering fish, and dwelling as you did on the GRA's opposition to the Baal Shem Tov and all Chasidim, so then, is it not rather odd and hypocritical of you to quote sources that cite the Baal Shem Tov and the sayings of Chasidic masters that explain and knock down the places of Yoshke and Shabtai Tzvi in the eyes of Yiddishkeit?

After all, since you have proven beyond any shadow of a doubt that you are a die-hard misnaged who opposes Chasidism through and through for many well-sourced reasons that you have provided, so how can you then turn around and, as if you assume we have amnesia, spout the sayings of the Baal Shem Tov himself as definitive slapdownds of Yoshke and Shabtai Tzvi, and why have you not searched for sources in the GRA and among non-Chasidish seforim to prove the same points you were making?

If you assume that the Baal Shem Tov and Rav Tzadok are reliable and respectable then you also need to assume that their modern-day heirs in the Chasidish world are entitled to THEIR interpretation and practices of the Baal Shem Tov's notions and innovations, namely the stress on the role of the Tzadik in the lives of his Chasidim. The TANYA is the central ideological source book for ALL Chasidism, while there are variances, the TANYA in nistar and the Shulchan Oreuch Harav in nigleh are the hashkafic/halachik/mekubaldikke iron sources that divide ALL Chasidim from the non-Chasidim. Take it or leave it, by why flog a dead horse? While you are a capable writer, you are incapable of rewriting Jewish history!

It is intellectual chutzpah on your part to cite the master of the Chasidim to slap down Chabad who practice what the Baal Shem Tov preached to the n-th degree albeit in a way that is not comprehensible nor palatable to non-Chasidim. Chasidim and Chabad adore and in some ways "worship" the Baal Shem Tov and their Rebbes down to the rebbelach of our own times (if it is repugnant to you, worship your own gedolim, starting with the two Ree Moishes you admire: Feinstein and Shternbuch), so that to cite the words of the original Chasidic masters in essense and in the context of the flow of your posts, against themselves, makes no sense and is both highly disingenuous and no doubt quite offensive to a Chasid, not to mention it is a logical fallacy to take for oneself SELECTIVE teachings and imply them to be axioms strong enough to negate an entire CHASIDIC movement, that swears allegiance to the Baal Shem Tov and has certain kabbalas from him that noone else has (attributed to Rav Hutner when questioned why he chose to learn from the sixth Rebbe), like Chabad.

It is time for you to let go of the anti-Chabad bone that you have bled dry, you are no longer convincing anyone as you insist on fighting lost wars that have no real meaning because everyone has chosen their teams and like it or not are cheering them on, no matter what you or others say.