Arab propaganda war against Israel

YNET reports:

From the outset of Operation Cast Lead, a narrative that is highly disturbing for Israelis and Jews has emerged in the Arab world. "Israel carries out mass extermination," Hamas and Islamic Brotherhood spokesmen scream out on Arab satellite networks, and especially on al-Jazeera.

"Collective punishment, genocide, Holocaust," these same spokesmen cry out, with photos of dismembered bodies in the wake of Air Force attacks posted in the backdrop. These are charged words, yet it is precisely what speakers are trying to achieve: They wish to show the world that Israel has replaced Nazi Germany. Those are not slips of the
tongue, but rather, a deliberate argument that is repeated time and again.

From early on in the war, a dual and often contradictory narrative had been created by various Arab media outlets. Yet despite the contradictions, it appears many Arabs accept it: On the one hand, Israel is portrayed as a Nazi state and a mass exterminator of defenseless civilians, while the world remains silent. Yet on the other hand, "Palestinian resistance fighters" are said to pulverize Israel mercilessly, with the IDF said to conceal its casualties. [...]

Norwegian doctor in Gaza - Apologist for Hamas

Fox News:

A high-profile Norwegian doctor who has said the September 11 terrorists were justified in their attack is now treating patients in Gaza and is being accused of presenting "hard-core propaganda" to TV interviewers in his telling of the conflict between Hamas and Israel.

Dr. Mads Gilbert has become an unofficial advocate of the Palestinian cause, his critics say.

International media reports, including those from the BBC, CBS, CNN and FOX’s sister station Sky News, present Gilbert as an ordinary doctor.

But a look at his record shows that Gilbert, 61, is a political activist and member of the Norwegian Maoist "Red" party, and he has been involved in solidarity work for the Palestinians since the 1970s. He has criticized the international aid organization Doctors Without Borders for refusing to take sides in conflicts.

Gilbert volunteers at the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza with the Norwegian Aid Committee (NORWAC), an aid organization funded by the Norwegian government, and he has been interviewed by the media on a variety of issues. Israeli government officials have said Hamas hides weapons in the hospital where Gilbert works.[...]

Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah in America

To all dear Jews concerned about their fellow-Jews in this time of distress:

In light of the current situation, in which thousands of Jews in the Holy Land are in danger due to the attacks of the enemy, we regard it as proper to strongly emphasize the obligation on us all to awaken ourselves in prayer, to ask for Divine mercy for our dear brethren and to increase our charity and good deeds for the protection of the remnant of Yisroel from any and all harm. We should intensify the practice of reciting chapters 83, 130 and 142 of Tehillim each day, and fervently pour out our hearts in the prayer - Vehu Rachum' said on Monday and Thursday mornings and in the blessing of -Hashkiveinu in Ma'ariv, where we ask Hashem to -spread upon us Your tent of peace' and conclude -the Guardian of His nation Yisroel forever."

May Hashem in His abundant mercy and kindness shield His nation and heritage, release them from all straits, and take us from darkness to light and from subjugation to redemption. Amen, may it be His will.

8 Teves, 5769 [forwarded by RaP]

Hamas - Rejoicing in Palestinian suffering

NYTimes reports:

The emergency room in Shifa Hospital is often a place of gore and despair. On Thursday, it was also a lesson in the way ordinary people are squeezed between suicidal fighters and a military behemoth.

Dr. Awni al-Jaru, 37, a surgeon at the hospital, rushed in from his home here, dressed in his scrubs. But he came not to work. His head was bleeding, and his daughter’s jaw was broken.

He said Hamas militants next to his apartment building had fired mortar and rocket rounds. Israel fired back with force, and his apartment was hit. His wife, Albina, originally from Ukraine, and his 1-year-old son were killed.

“My son has been turned into pieces,” he cried. “My wife was cut in half. I had to leave her body at home.” Because Albina was a foreigner, she could have left Gaza with her children. But, Dr. Jaru lamented, she would not leave him behind.

A car arrived with more patients. One was a 21-year-old man with shrapnel in his left leg who demanded quick treatment. He turned out to be a militant with Islamic Jihad. He was smiling a big smile.

“Hurry, I must get back so I can keep fighting,” he told the doctors.

He was told that there were more serious cases than his, that he needed to wait. But he insisted. “We are fighting the Israelis,” he said. “When we fire we run, but they hit back so fast. We run into the houses to get away.” He continued smiling.

“Why are you so happy?” this reporter asked. “Look around you.”

A girl who looked about 18 screamed as a surgeon removed shrapnel from her leg. An elderly man was soaked in blood. A baby a few weeks old and slightly wounded looked around helplessly. A man lay with parts of his brain coming out. His family wailed at his side.

“Don’t you see that these people are hurting?” the militant was asked.

“But I am from the people, too,” he said, his smile incandescent. “They lost their loved ones as martyrs. They should be happy. I want to be a martyr, too.”

Beis Din vs. Dina de Malchusa /HAFTR

RaP wrote:

(Here's a story about a Bais Din and Din Torah that has nothing to do with conversions, altho it has similarities in that like Rabbi Tropper and EJF who ignored the pleas of the Bais Din Tzedek of the Eidah Hachareidis, it is a zilzul of a Bais Din, and it goes further by landing up in gentile arka'os (courts), a very grievous matter in Halacha:)

Question: When a Din Torah clashes with "Dina de Malchusa" in the form of a secular court's counter-verdict, what does one do?

Or: Who took this case to to non-Jewish court after it was already adjucated, and why? Does the Bais Din have the power to put in cherem the person who took the Bais Din to a secular court?

If anyone has the answers to these questions, I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you!

Here is the story, that is both fascinating and foreboding:

From:
The Jewish Star Also reported in Vos Iz Nei'as

"Beit Din decision overturned

NYS Supreme Court calls verdict on HAFTR teacher ‘irrational’

By Michael Orbach

Issue of Jan. 9, 2009 / 13 Teves 5769

The New York State Supreme Court has overturned a decision by the Beth Din of America, shocking both the rabbinical and civil legal communities. In a Dec. 18 decision, Justice Bruce M. Balter of Kings Country Supreme Court found that a verdict concerning a teacher at the Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway, rendered by the beit din, was “irrational” and “violative of public policy.”

Left unappealed, the ruling could impact future beit din verdicts.

The case concerns a rebbe named Nachum Brisman. He began teaching at HAFTR in 1991 and was let go at the end of the 2005 academic year due to differences in hashkafa (religious outlook) with the school. He had received tenure over the course of his employment, though tenure was canceled school-wide in 2005. A din Torah (trial) before a panel consisting of Rabbi Mordechai Willig of Yeshiva University, Rabbi Steven Pruzansky of Congregation Bnai Yeshurun of Teaneck, and Rabbi Ronald Warburg found in Brisman’s favor and awarded him $50,000 in back pay. The beit din also doubled his salary to $100,000, reinstated his tenure and ruled that any future termination of Brisman must go through the beit din itself even though the original arbitration agreement granted such jurisdiction for just one year.

Marvin Neiman, Brisman’s lawyer, stressed the nature of the compromise.

“It was a good compromise because it made everyone unhappy,” Neiman told The Jewish Star. He also explained that the beit din salary award was lower than Brisman’s total 2005 compensation which, according to Neiman, was mainly built through overtime.

A HAFTR official said that the school would have no comment about a pending legal matter.

While Neiman believed that HAFTR would honor the beit din’s decision, he sought to confirm the award with the New York State Supreme Court, which is a common step after arbitration. The overturning of an arbitration verdict is relatively rare and considered unusual.

While arbitration verdicts are not enforceable, the decisions are given weight in court. According to a 2006 precedent, an arbitration decision cannot be vacated, even if there is a factual error in the case, unless there is a suspicion of fraud, irrationality, or a harm to public policy. There is no suspicion of fraud in the case. Nonetheless, the Supreme Court refused to confirm the verdict.

Justice Balter found that the decision should be voided on the grounds that the decision was irrational, the beit din specifically went beyond its enumerated authority and that the verdict violated public policy.

The decision was irrational on two counts, Balter found. [...]

Economics - Return to Keynes

Wall Street Journal : [See also WSJ here] [referred by Jersey Girl]

The U.S. and dozens of other nations are returning to massive government spending as a recession fighter. It's not because they're sure it'll do the trick. It's because they're running low on options and desperate for tools -- even old ones -- to fight the global downturn.

Around the world, interest rates have been slashed and trillions of dollars have been committed to bailouts. But the global recession is deepening anyway. So policy makers are invoking the ideas of British economist John Maynard Keynes (pronounced "canes"), who argued that governments should fight the Great Depression in the 1930s with heavy spending. With consumer and business spending so weak, he argued, governments had to boost demand directly.

Drama was a Keynes tool. During a 1934 dinner in the U.S., after one economist carefully removed a towel from a stack to dry his hands, Mr. Keynes swept the whole pile of towels on the floor and crumpled them up, explaining that his way of using towels did more to stimulate employment among restaurant workers.

Keynesian policies fell out of favor in the 1970s, as government spending was blamed for helping to spur inflation around the world. But with the global economic turmoil being compared to the 1930s, government spending is once again back in vogue.

"The situation is so severe that we're all Keynesians again -- Keynesians in the foxhole," says Martin Baily, a former Clinton White House economist at the left-leaning Brookings Institution. "It really is such a difficult time that we're going to need to use whatever ammunition we have." [...]

HaRav Sternbuch - Understanding Gaza

Fear of Moslems costs JetBlue $240,000

CNN reports:

JetBlue Airways and two TSA screeners will pay $240,000 to settle an Iraqi man's claim he was denied access to a flight until he covered a T-shirt that read in English and Arabic, "We Will Not be Silent."

In the settlement, JetBlue and the TSA screeners deny any wrongdoing, saying they only wanted to resolve the 2½-year-old federal lawsuit.

But Raed Jarrar, an Iraqi who immigrated to the United States three years ago, cast the settlement as a victory, saying the payout would discourage airlines and airport security officials from imposing restrictions in the future.

ACLU attorney Aden Fine, who represented Jarrar, also called it a victory. "A $240,000 award should send a clear and strong message to all TSA officials and to all airlines that what happened here is wrong and should not happen again," he said.

The TSA screeners -- Garfield Harris and Franco Trotta -- declined comment, referring questions to their attorneys, who also declined comment, and the TSA.

TSA spokesman Christopher White, while noting that the TSA was not a party to the suit, said "There is absolutely no intention to take disciplinary action against the employees involved."

The incident occurred August 12, 2006 -- two days after the United Kingdom revealed a plot to bomb planes to the United States had been foiled. In response, the United States imposed a ban on carry-on liquids, and raised the threat level at airports.

Jarrar, now 30, said he was attempting to travel on JetBlue flight 101 from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport to Oakland, California, when he was approached by TSA officers. The officers told him he'd have to cover his T-shirt.

"When I asked why, one of the TSA officers said, 'Coming into an airport while wearing a T-shirt with Arabic letters on it was equivalent to going into a bank while wearing a shirt saying, 'I am a robber,' " Jarrar said.

Jarrar said he originally refused to cover up the shirt, first asking to speak to a supervisor, and asking if there was a law prohibiting Arabic shirts.

"I said, 'I think as a U.S. resident and taxpayer, I think it's my constitutional right [to express myself],' " said Jarrar, adding the T-shirt's message was not threatening.

Jarrar said he finally relented when it became obvious he couldn't get on the plane without complying. [...]

Hamas wins by being defeated

Time Magazine

Israel says its military offensive in Gaza has dealt Hamas a heavy blow, but that's not how the leaders of the radical Palestinian group see it. Their view is based more on a kind of jujitsu that uses Israel's military momentum against its own political objectives than on any serious belief in rhetoric about the organization's "steadfast" fighters being able to "crush" the invaders.

Israel had long assumed that Hamas wanted a ground invasion so it could land some blows on the Israeli military in order to claim a propaganda victory once the Israelis inevitably withdrew. Still, by entering Gaza on Saturday, the Israelis calculated that they could draw Hamas into clashes that would substantially weaken the organization, even if Israel suffered some casualties. But despite the ferocity of the fighting that rages in some parts of Gaza, there are indications that Hamas is keeping many of its best fighters out of the direct path of the advancing Israelis. Israeli military officials have noted that resistance has not been as fierce as expected, and that most Israeli soldiers wounded in the operation thus far have been struck by mortar rounds fired from a considerable distance. Meanwhile, Hamas continues to fire rockets into Israel in a symbolic taunt to the Israeli public. (See pictures of Israel's sweep into Gaza.)

So what's Hamas' game?

The militant group is operating on a belief that Israel's assault cannot be sustained in the face of growing international pressure for a cease-fire. In fact, Hamas believes it is winning the political battle, as images of the horrors being suffered by the Palestinian civilian population flash around the world. And it wants to ensure the survival of as much of its military and organizational capabilities as possible so as to best profit from an eventual truce. [...]

Palestinian protest in Florida - Call for ovens for Jews

Fox News:

[...] Most of the chants were run-of-the-mill; men and women waving Palestinian flags called Israel's invasion of Gaza a "crime," while the pro-Israel group carried signs calling the Hamas-run territory a "terror state."

But as the protest continued and crowds grew, one woman in a hijab began to shout curses and slurs that shocked Jewish activists in the city, which has a sizable Jewish population.

"Go back to the oven," she shouted, calling for the counter-protesters to die in the manner that the Nazis used to exterminate Jews during the Holocaust.

"You need a big oven, that's what you need," she yelled. [...]

Lithuanian Charedi Mitnagdim pronunciation

Frank from France sent the following request

Hi,

I've discovered your great website while searching some informations about hebrew pronunciation and different questions about minhagim, As I've noticed your great culture in those subjects I'd like to submit you some questioning I have.

I'm interested in Lithuanian Haredi Mitnaggim movement and great rav like rav Shach, rav Elyachiv, etc. and references like Chafetz Chaim, Chazon Ish, etc. My search is about their practice : hebrew pronunciation, minhag, nusach, siddur, halacha, etc.

I'd like you to clarify myself on those points :

Pronunciation, is this movement pronouncing like this : Boroukh Ato Adey-noy Eleyheynou Melekh Hoeylom Asher Kiddéshonou Bémitsveysov Vétzivonou ... ? cholam=tzerer= 'ey' like in 'veined', also I have read that some pronounce shin like sin and sin like shin not sure who is concerned...

I'm not sure this theoretical pronunciation is still respect in Israel because I didn't always recognize them while listening to some rav shach or rav elyachiv brachot also I have read many arguying about how to pronounce the holam for example, as in your website "R' Schach ruled that the vowel holam should davka be pronounced with a yud sound at the end," so lithuanian (so rav shach) pronounce 'ey' but he says to pronounce 'oy' ? same for the Vilna Gaon saying we should pronounce it like a long o (sounds 'ou' like in 'you' ?) how do the lithuanian Haredi Mitnaggim define the correct hebrew pronunciation ? and paradoxically is it different from what they actually do ?

siddur, what siddur (daily use) are they using ? classic ashkenazim siddur ? or siddur ha-gra ? other ? does an artscroll classic ashenaz siddur fit ?

nusach : does they have a melody while praying ? I read somewhere they are just talking not singing in every days prayers

halacha : is the mishnah berurah their actual authority or is there other texts ?


many thanks & best regards

Frank (from France excuse my english please)

Moslems can kill Moslems & Jews but Jews can't kill Moslems

Alan Dershowtiz: Hamas deploys its 'CNN Strategy' on world opinion

As Israel persists in its military efforts — by ground, air and sea — to protect its citizens from deadly Hamas rockets, and as protests against Israel increase around the world, the success of the abominable Hamas double war crime strategy becomes evident. The strategy is as simple as it is cynical: Provoke Israel by playing Russian roulette with its children, firing rockets at kindergartens, playgrounds and hospitals; hide behind its own civilians when firing at Israeli civilians; refuse to build bunkers for its own civilians; have TV cameras ready to transmit every image of dead Palestinians, especially children; exaggerate the number of civilians killed by including as “children” Hamas fighters who are 16 or 17 years old and as “women,” female terrorists. [...]

Madoff's "Woman on Wall St."

NYTimes reports:

VIENNA — With an aggressive style that stood out in the staid world of Austrian banking even more than her bouffant red wig, Sonja Kohn made few friends gathering billions for Bernard L. Madoff from wealthy investors in Russia and across Europe.

Now, she has even fewer. Mrs. Kohn has dropped out of sight, leaving the firm she founded, Bank Medici, in the hands of Austrian regulators, who took it over last week.

Embarrassment from investing heavily with Mr. Madoff could explain wanting to disappear from public view. But another theory widely repeated by those who know Mrs. Kohn is that she may be afraid of some particularly displeased investors: Russian oligarchs whose money made up a chunk of the $2.1 billion that Bank Medici invested with Mr. Madoff.

“With Russian oligarchs as clients,” said a Viennese banker who knew Mrs. Kohn and her husband socially, “she might have reason to be afraid.”

It was a view shared in interviews with Mrs. Kohn’s fellow bankers, former employees and other associates — from Vienna to London to Geneva to Monsey, N.Y.

Few of those who know her were willing to be quoted by name because they feared being linked to the scandal surrounding Mr. Madoff as well as the investigations into his alleged fraud. But several people with knowledge of her personal and professional dealings say she became concerned about retribution by Russian investors after Mr. Madoff’s arrest last month. (Russia’s richest men have been especially strapped as commodity prices and their stock market have collapsed.) [...]

War means being aggressive

Haaretz wrote:

The incident in which some 40 Palestinian civilians were killed when Israel Defense Forces mortar shells hit an UNRWA school in the Jabalya refugee camp Tuesday surprised no one who has been following events in Gaza in recent days. Senior officers admit that the IDF has been using enormous firepower.

"For us, being cautious means being aggressive," explained one. "From the minute we entered, we've acted like we're at war. That creates enormous damage on the ground ... I just hope those who have fled the area of Gaza City in which we are operating will describe the shock. Maybe someone there will sober up before it continues."[...]

Israel's viewpoint in videos

Jpost reports:

15 Seconds

distance is only a matter of time

EJF - fishing for converts

Billings Farnsworth writes on Ezine articles:

Marriage and family are two beautiful and sacred things in the Jewish community. Through marriage comes children, and through children comes the preservation of their belief and way of life. Those who choose to get married do so with the hope that they will be able to have an eternal Jewish family.

However, many of these marriages are intermarriages where one spouse is of the faith while the other isn't. The two of them agree to work together and teach the same beliefs, but unless the non-Jewish spouse is converted using the standards of halacha, the conversion is often considered invalid.

The conversion doesn't have to stay invalid, however. There are organizations out there that teach the halachic method of conversion and help these couples bypass this hurdle. By converting to Judaism using the halachic method, the non-Jewish spouse will be considered a valid, orthodox member of the faith and community. When it comes time to teach the children religious beliefs both parents will be assets because they will know they have the belief system and passion necessary for the training of children.

There are many people who convert to Judaism using the non-halachic method. However, by following the guidelines of the Torah and halacha those people interested in converting show their absolute belief in Judaism, and their willingness to follow proper Jewish customs and religious rules.

These converts are sometimes considered ideological converts due to their desire to be identified with the Jewish community from a completely religious standpoint. If you are unsure of the proper halachic standard of conversion, consider finding an organization that will help you achieve the religious belief you are searching for.

Eternal Jewish Family, or EJF, is a website with information on Jewish family issues. Billings Farnsworth is a freelance writer. Article Source:

Reform rabbi vs the KKK

NYTimes reports

[...] In 1991, he was living in Lincoln, Neb., with his wife at the time, Julie Michael, and three of their five children. He was then the cantor and spiritual leader of the South Street Temple, the oldest Jewish congregation in Lincoln. One Sunday morning, a few days after they had moved into their new house, the phone rang.

The man on the other end of the line called Rabbi Weisser “Jew boy” and told him he would be sorry he had moved in. Two days later, a thick package of anti-black, anti-Semitic pamphlets arrived in the mail, including an unsigned card that read, “The KKK is watching you, scum.”

The messages, it turned out, were from Larry Trapp, the Grand Dragon of the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in Nebraska, who kept loaded weapons, pro-Hitler material and his Klan robe in his cramped Lincoln apartment. Then 42, Mr. Trapp was nearly blind and used a wheelchair to get around; both of his legs had been amputated because of diabetes.

In a 1992 interview with Time magazine, Mr. Trapp said he had wanted to scare Rabbi Weisser into moving out of Lincoln. “As the state leader, the Grand Dragon, I did more than my share of work because I wanted to build up the state of Nebraska into a state as hateful as North Carolina and Florida,” he said. “I spent a lot of money and went out of my way to instill fear.”

Rabbi Weisser, who suspected the person threatening him was Mr.Trapp, got his telephone number and started leaving messages on the answering machine. “I would say things like: ‘Larry, there’s a lot of love out there. You’re not getting any of it. Don’t you want some?’ And hang up,” he said. “And, ‘Larry, why do you love the Nazis so much?They’d have killed you first because you’re disabled.’ And hang up. I did it once a week.”

One day, Mr. Trapp answered. Ms. Michael, the rabbi’s wife, had told him to say something nice if he ever got Mr. Trapp on the line, and he followed her advice. “I said: ‘I heard you’re disabled. I thought you might need a ride to the grocery,’ ” Rabbi Weisser said.

Then, one night, Rabbi Weisser’s phone rang again. It was Mr. Trapp. “He said, quote-unquote — I’ll never forget it, it was like a chilling moment, in a good way — he said, ‘I want to get out of what I’m doing and I don’t know how,’ ” Rabbi Weisser said. [...]

Hamas founder's son - converts & talks

Fox News:

"There is no chance. Is there any chance for fire to co-exist with the water?" said Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of one of the group's founding members. Yousef added: "It's not about Israel, it's not about Hamas: it's about both ideologies." Yousef, son of Sheikh Hassan Yousef, one of the most influential leaders of the militant group, said the organization betrays the Palestinian cause and tortures its own members.

• Video: Click here for more on FOX News' special Escape from Hamas.

Hamas, formed in the late 1980's as an outgrowth of the Palestinian branch of the radical Muslim Brotherhood, is considered a terror organization by the U.S. government. Hamas seized power in the Gaza strip in 2007 in a violent coup against the more moderate Palestinian Authority led by Mahmoud Abbas.

Yousef said he was indoctrinated at an early age to use violence to challenge Israeli control in the region. As a teenager he moved up within the organization and became the leader of the radical Islamic Youth Movement that fought Israeli tanks and troops in the streets, celebrated suicide bombings and recruited young men to the cause.

Yousef, 30, said he realized the true nature of Hamas and radical Islam during a stint in an Israeli prison. He renounced his Muslim faith, left his family behind in Ramallah and converted to Christianity.

"Islam is not the word of God," said Yousef. "If you want to be offended it's your problem. But you know something? Go study. Think for a second that I might be right. So wake up, look at your path, see where you're going. Are you really going to heaven with 72 virgins after you kill yourself and kill another 20 people?"

Yousef has sought asylum in the United States and now attends an evangelical Christian church in San Diego, Calif.

"The Hamas leadership, including my father, they're responsible; they're responsible for all the violence that happened from the organization. I know they describe it as reaction to Israeli aggression, but still, they are part of it and they had to make decisions in those operations against Israel (for) which there was the killing of many civilians." [...]

Six installments available on youtube

1 2 3 4 5 6

Gaza ground operation begins

Haaretz reports

"The objective is to destroy the Hamas terror infrastructure in the area of operations," said Israel Defense Forces Major Avital Leibovitch, a military spokeswoman, confirming that incursions were under way. "We are going to take some of the launch areas used by Hamas."

The IDF Spokesperson's office issued a statement, emphasizing that this stage of the operation will further the goals of the eight-day offensive as voiced by the IDF until now: To strike a direct and hard blow against the Hamas while increasing the deterrent strength of the IDF, in order to bring about an improved and more stable security situation for residents of Southern Israel over the term. [...]

Shidduch Crises & Easy conversion

Jersey Girl has left a new comment on your post "Homosexuality & Orthodoxy /R' Riskin":

Twenty five years ago, a friend of my parents, the daughter of Holocaust survivors, an attorney,an Orthodox Jew and a truly wonderful person, turned 30 unmarried.

She lamented that no Jewish man wanted her, brilliant, introverted and not model thin. So, on her 30th birthday she told her parents that she did not want to leave this world childless. She had saved two years salary to take a leave of her profession and become a single parent. She was
going to the sperm bank to become a mother and bring a Jewish child into the world.

The strictly Orthodox parents were appalled and disowned their daughter.Friends and neighbors explained that due to already widespread "conversions" being done by Orthodox Rabbis who believe they are "making a Jewish home" out of an intermarriage, there WERE no Jewish men who would interested in a woman like her. (How CAN American Rabbis NOT think of the Jewish woman who is left single when they permit a Jewish man to intermarry?).

She had registered with every shadchan, been to every singles event and actively pursued marriage for more than 10 years. She was willing to marry any man within 20 years of her age who would have her and had only pursued a career because she could not get married.

At age 30, she could see that her chances of marrying were slim and back then, a woman over 30, was considered unlikely to conceive. She did not want to be childless; both of her parents were the sole survivors of their large extended families and this was constantly on her mind.

Today, I know of dozens of beautiful, smart, and refined Jewish women who cannot get married.

The crisis is so widespread that the Star K is offering a $2500 cash gift to any shadchan who matches a single Jewish woman over the age of 22.

The Star K's website sums it up:

"Thousands of single Jewish women, of all ages, who are shomrei Torah and mitzvos, are finding it difficult to find a suitable match. There are many single observant Jewish women in Baltimore, whose numbers are on the increase. A significant number of divorcees and widows, contribute to these statistics, as well."

http://www.star-k.org/cons-new-bignews-shidduch.htm

In the past year, two husbands of our middle aged cousins left their wives and young children to marry Gentile women, whom they had "converted" by "Orthodox" Rabbis.

Another woman in our shul recently lost her husband to a non Jew 20 years younger; the couple was married in an "Orthodox" ceremony.

One of my close friends, the mother of several children herself lost her father to a non Jew, a generation younger. The famous Rabbi Bomzer "converted" the Gentile and married them.

Psychologists say that men and women seek different things from their relationships. Women seek stability and men seek adventure; it is human nature for women to want to marry men like their fathers and for men to wish to seek out women who are different.

An often overlooked statistic in the intermarriage crisis is that according to "Matrilineal Ascent/Patrilineal Descent" by Dr. Sylvia Barack Fishman, a professor at Brandeis University , women who intermarry get married, on average, three years later than women who marry Jewish men. This three-year gap is statistically significant because it reflects even non observant women's desire to marry a Jew. The intermarriage comes sociologists explain, after a woman gives up on finding a Jewish husband and decides to marry a gentile rather than stay single.

Two cousins of my husband's, both unmarried, committed, educated Jewish women in their 30s moved in with other Jewish women and conceived children (from Jewish sperm donors) that they plan to raise cooperatively.

If our Rabbis continue to promote intermarriage as an acceptable option within even Orthodox Judaism, what other choice will there be for thousands of Jewish women who are committed enough to prefer single motherhood to intermarriage?

Rabbis should consider the Jewish woman left alone and the Jewish home she could have built when they perform a "conversion" they attempt to justify by saying "they are making a Jewish home from an intermarriage".

In reality, our Rabbis are PREVENTING thousands of Jewish women from ever marrying and preventing the Jewish homes they would have made from EVER being built.

Financial crisis - 12 Reasons

Time Magazine

After a year of epic financial crisis, 2009 will — if all goes well —be a time for digging ourselves out of the mess and figuring out how to prevent a repeat. Before we can do that, we have to have some idea of what went wrong. People are still arguing about what caused the Depression of the 1930s, so don't expect a definitive diagnosis anytime soon. But here's my current list of blame, or at least the first dozen items on it, in descending order of culpability.[...]

Self Abuse - Cutting - Our community too

Newsweek reports:

[...]This is how it began for Becki. For the millions of others who hurt themselves intentionally, the story may start differently, but the result is often the same: What is at first just an impulse, a moment of relief, becomes a secret habit—a need for pain that medical science doesn't fully understand and can treat with only mixed success. Eventually, for Becki, the cuts became too much to hide, and her excuses—"I burned myself," "It was a cat scratch."—rang hollow. Her mother sent her to a therapist, then a psychiatric ward, where she was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, and put on mood stabilizers and antidepressants. But the cutting didn't stop—it worsened. Years passed, middle school became high school, friends and interests changed, one therapist merged into another. Yet the cutting remained ritual, sometimes happening a dozen times a day—on arms, thighs and stomach. "Seeing the blood would give me a sense of being alive," Becki explains.

Self-injury has been documented for hundreds of years. Cases of women and girls, mostly teens, hurting themselves with blades or other implements, even inserting small objects under their skin, go as far back as the medical literature will reach. Though figures vary, researchers estimate between two and eight million Americans, most of them women, have engaged in self-injury at some point in their lives. Yet, while experts agree that this propensity exists, from there, opinions diverge. Is non-suicidal self-injury a diagnosable disorder, or simply a symptom of more profound mental disorders? Can it become an addiction? Does this behavior create changes in the brain chemistry of sufferers? And how do you treat it? [...]

Teach truth through lies?

Avraham [guest post] has left a new comment on your post "EJF - Cost Benefit analysis":

On the subject of truth touched on at the end of the blog, here is some recent correspondence I had with a talmid chacham.

Rabbi X:

I do not know if vorts are dangerous, but they are usually not true...

My reply:

For a solid person like you, vorts are not dangerous. But most people cannot separate the wheat from the chaff.

I consider vorts as dangerous as fake Holocaust stories (a famous one just hit the news recently and I have spotted dubious Holocaust tales on the Aish site), and as dangerous as the golem tales which are presented to youngsters as Torah miSinai. A youngster or uncomplicated sort of person hears these vorts, fake Holocaust stories and golem tales. Five years down the line he realizes that the vorts are nonsense, the Holocaust stories are fake, and the golem stories are a rabbi's invention. Many are then struck with the thought that if people I trusted have fed me lokshen for the past five years, how can I trust anything they say? This can lead to extreme consequences. In addition, you have a frum press (papers and books) which censors and edits everything it prints and then tries to destroy frum weekend magazines that try to be a drop more truthful does little to strengthen people's belief in authority.

All this nonsense percolates into mainstream hashkofo leading to a split-personality tzibbur. The average Chareidi is quite cynical, while simulataneously willing to believe that any unusual tale ranks equal to Megillas Esther, and putting faith into a roster of segulos and alternative rostrums that would do a medicine man proud.

Rabbi X:

Your points are, as usual, excellent- and you definitely pointed out things that had not occurred to me.

For many of these reasons, I try to keep as low a profile as I can, and help people privately, discreetly. I realized many years ago that I am not very good at battling windmills, but can be helpful on a one-on-one basis.

EJF - Cost Benefit analysis

bandit has left a new comment on your post "EJF defended":

If the world of kiruv would be perfect and they would be concentrating on teaching people, one by one, Torah and mitzvos and they ran into the problem of intermarried couples we would understand (though not agree with) EJF's position. However, the vast majority of kiruv is half-baked and aimed at improving people's feelings towards Judaism instead of teaching them Torah. This may not be a problem (although probably is) but once we start doing other things because of kiruv we have to reevaluate. If someone out there believes kiruv to be changing lobster eaters into latke eaters he will be bringing his clients to this beis din too. When a spouse converts are they accepting all mitzvos? Are they accepting a path that leads to all mitzvos? They are statistically more likely to divorce. What will happen then? If the geyrus is kosher they may still act like goyim, not having seen their geyrus in any context other than connected to their Jewish former spouse. This can create problems with mamzeyrus. If the geyrus is not kosher we are left with more problems. For EJF to say that they only accept geyrus with KM is allowing them to create a problem and then try and create a solution. That is a dangerous approach.

As a sidebar, the Chasam Sofer writes in a letter that when fighting evil one must take care not to attack people personally for two reasons. One, because the argument makes less sense when it includes a personal attack. Two, because the evil stands on its own and even if the perpetrator dies or leaves the scene the evil must still be fought. The personal digs in these comments (both against R' Bomzer and R' Tropper and each other) detract from the weight of the argument.

One last point. The ads printed in the Jewish media have quoted lists of teshuvos supporting them. I made it my project to research them and I was shocked to see that not one proved their point. It was a good lesson to me to research everything . But the credibility of this organization took a severe beating. Who knows what other lies are being said?

Psychological Abuse - Identity & expectations/ Maharal

The Maharal explains that ona'as devarim (verbal abuse) is devastating because it directly impacts the person's soul. The abuser treats the person as if he was nonexistent and thus it is a belittling of his spiritual and psychological essence. Secondly - especially in the case of a wife - it undermines her expectation and perception of her importance. This denial of her self vision and expectations of her dignity - are devastating as seen by how readily they bring about her tears.

Maharal (Nesiv Ahavas Re’ah 2): Bava Metzia (59a): All the heavenly gates are locked except the gate for those who have been verbally abused (ona’ah)…R’ Eliezar said that every transgression is punished by means of an intermediary except for that of ona’ah which is punished directly by G d. R’ Abahu said that there are three things for which access to heaven is not blocked – ona’ah, theft and idolatry… These are the words of the gemora. It is important to understand these words because the Sages are alluding to a very deep understanding of the nature of ona’ah. First of all it is important to know that there is a major difference between verbal ona’ah and hurting somebody through a physical beating. That is because verbal ona’ah specifically affects the soul of man when he is insulted. On the other hand there is no such thing as ona’ah in reference to the physical body. There is nothing that ona’ah can do to the body. We see this idea in Shemos (22:9): Don’t wrong the ger or oppress him but you know the soul of the ger. The Torah connects ona’ah with the soul which receives the ona’ah. Also all embarrassment is to the soul, as we will explain. Furthermore since ona’ah is to the soul and the soul is in G d’s hand as is stated in Vayikra Rabba (4:1)…the soul and justice are in G d’s left hand… Because of this the soul which suffers wrong is in fact in G d’s hand…Furthermore someone who insults and abuses another person shows that he does not consider that his victim has any importance or existence at all. He treats the victim as a non-entity… There are other matters for which the ona’ah is ever more severe. Bava Metzia (59a): A person should always be careful not to distress his wife because since she readily cries she is more readily distressed. The explanation of this that a person should be particularly careful with his wife because the woman is controlled by her husband and therefore her tears are much more common. Distressing another person is not so devastating. But concerning his wife since she is under his domain and if he should distress her verbally – she readily cries. In contrast the Jewish slave is not so affected by nature. Even a Jewish woman slave does not readily cry because she has accepted the state of servitude to her master on her own. However the wife who is under the control of her husband, nevertheless she views her self as being a significant being. Therefore if there were any distress or insult against her from her husband she is strongly devastated – consequently she readily cries.

Russia turns off gas to Europe

NYTimes reports

MOSCOW — Gazprom, the Russian energy monopoly, shut the entire flow of natural gas intended for Ukraine’s domestic consumption Thursday morning after negotiations over prices and transit fees unraveled the day before.

“Gas deliveries in the Ukrainian direction were reduced by 90 million cubic meters per day,” Gazprom said in a statement carried by the Interfax news agency, or about the average daily consumption of the country of 46 million people which is at the peak of the winter heating season now.

Ukraine’s national energy company confirmed pressure in the country’s natural gas pipeline system had begun to drop Thursday morning, Reuters reported.

If the interruption continues, customers in Western Europe would likely experience shortages, since the same pipelines in Ukraine that are used for internal distribution are also used for export. That is a problem that has bedeviled Europe’s energy supplies from Russia for years.

About 80 percent of Russia’s gas exports to Europe go through Ukraine. In the statement Thursday, Gazprom said it was continuing to ship gas to Ukraine that was intended for re-export to Europe.

The transit of Russian natural gas across former Soviet states [...]

EJF - Convert for family happiness

Article Source :
http://www.articlearchive.co.uk/

Building United Jewish Homes Through Intermarriage Conversion - By: Art Gib

Description :
Marriage involves more than living in the same house with another person. In addition to the companionship, laughter, love and joy that they share, couples usually face trials like financial responsibilities, raising children, managing time and moving to new areas for employment opportunities. This is why even the happiest couples admit that building a successful marriage requires a lot of work.

The foundation for a successful marriage begins with dating. In addition to generating entertainment, dating should help couples learn what they need from a marriage partner, test their compatibility, and strengthen the relationship they will need to weather life's storms. In most cases, for two people to find happiness together, they need to share common beliefs, values, interests and goals. Sometimes, it requires a lot of love, service, sacrifice, and compromise to reach that point though.

For example, love may bring two people with different religious backgrounds together because they have fun together, are attracted to each other and they have common interests, but tension will probably be generated as they raise children and conduct their lives unless their religious backgrounds are blended together or one is adopted over the other. Consequently, if one spouse in the marriage is very serious about religion, the other partner can eliminate a lot of tension and stress by investigating that faith and deciding whether or not they can adopt the values and beliefs that it preaches. Unfortunately, even willing candidates could run into trouble if they are dealing with stringent religious groups like Orthodox Jews.

In the Jewish religion, following the law with exactness is of paramount importance. Some of those laws can be confusing for a newcomer though. That's why independent organizations exist to provide couples with the information, guidance and support that they need. With some of the most respected and revered teachers leading these organizations, couples can rest assured that they are in competent and loving hands. The goal of these groups is to help intermarriage couples complete a legitimate conversion process that will last and strengthen the faith of parents and children in Jewish homes.

The leaders of this organization understand that when parents are united in what they believe and teach, their posterity is much more likely to stay loyal to the faith and create their own eternal Jewish family. If you don't understand the importance of family and traditions to the Jewish people, a few hours of watching Fiddler on the Roof should give you a glimpse into the matter

Author Resource :
Eternal Jewish Family only works with couples at a Rabbi's recommendation. Since conversion is a highly personal matter, they do not guarantee conversion either. They can provide the things you need to be legitimate. The author, Art Gib, is a freelance writer.

IDF website & YouTube

CNN reports:

Israel has taken its barrage of airstrikes in Gaza to the Web, creating a YouTube channel this week to post footage of its air force dropping bombs on Hamas targets.

An initial message by the Israel Defense Forces posted on the channel, , said Israel wanted to use YouTube to "help us bring our message to the world" with "exclusive footage showing the IDF's operation success" in Gaza.

An IDF spokesman said YouTube was a way to get that message "to as many as we can," though he declined to comment further.

The YouTube channel is just one multimedia platform Israel is using to spread its message on the recent campaign in Gaza, which began Saturday.

The Israeli Consulate in New York also launched a Twitter feed Monday, which it has used to solicit questions from users for a virtual press conference.

The YouTube posts started Monday, with black-and-white aerial military video of Israeli aircraft striking "rockets in transit" and "terrorist smuggling tunnels." Another video in color showed what are identified as Israeli trucks transporting aid into Gaza.

The statement, still posted as of Tuesday night, said YouTube had taken down some of the IDF videos but, "due to blogger and viewer support, YouTube has returned some of the footage they removed."

The statement was removed sometime Wednesday, replaced with one that reads in part, "We thank you for visiting us and will continue to update this site with documentation of the IDF's humane action and operational success in operation 'Cast Lead.' "[...]

Genetic Testing - Conceal Information II /Yes

Robert Burk (professor of genetics) - response to attack on Dor Yeshorim [see original posting]

Jewish Week

The article adorning the front page of the 26 December Jewish Week, “Group Charged with ‘Playing God’ Over Genetic Testing” presents a biased representation of Rabbi Eckstein, Dor Yeshorim, medical facts and community sensitivites. In addition, the article also overlooks potential financial conflicts of interest as discussed below. Replacement of the enzyme defective in cases of severe Gaucher disease is a “medical miracle”; nevertheless, there are many complexities to carrier screening, diagnosis and treatment of the wide spectrum of mutations and diseases collectively grouped together.

The article personally attacks Rabbi Eckstein as “dissuading people from testing for Gaucher’s so not to discourage young men and women who may be carriers from marrying each other”. Let’s be clear, from the medical literature there is equipoise on whether genetic testing for Gaucher disease does more harm than good as pointed out in a recent editorial by Dr. Ernest Beutler in JAMA (volume 298:1329-31, 2007). In fact he states that, “the Israeli Medical Geneticists’ Association has recommended against Gaucher disease screening”. [...]

Baalei Teshuva - Hurting their feelings

There is a clear halacha that it is a Torah prohibition to remind a baal teshuva of his past (Shulchan Aruch C.M. 428:4) - this is from the following gemora.

Bava Metzia (58b):If a man is a penitent, one must not say to him, ‘Remember your former deeds.’ If he is the son of proselytes he must not be taunted with, ‘Remember the deeds of your ancestors. If he is a proselyte and comes to study the Torah, one must not say to him, ‘Shall the mouth that ate unclean and forbidden food,14 abominable and creeping things, come to study the Torah which was uttered by the mouth of Omnipotence!’ If he is visited by suffering, afflicted with disease, or has buried his children, one must not speak to him as his companions spoke to Job, is not thy fear [of God] thy confidence, And thy hope the integrity of thy ways? Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent?1

My question is how to explain Rav Yochanon's behavior with Reish Lakish which resulted in them both dying - as is described in the following gemora?

Bava Metzia (84a): One day R. Johanan was bathing in the Jordan, when Resh Lakish saw him and leapt into the Jordan after him. Said he [R. Johanan] to him, ‘Your strength should be for the Torah.’13 — ‘Your beauty,’ he replied, ‘should be for women.’ ‘If you will repent,’ said he, ‘I will give you my sister [in marriage], who is more beautiful than I.’ He undertook [to repent]; then he wished to return and collect his weapons, but could not.14 Subsequently, [R. Johanan] taught him Bible and Mishnah, and made him into a great man. Now, one day there was a dispute in the schoolhouse [with respect to the following. Viz.,] a sword, knife, dagger, spear, hand-saw and a scythe — at what stage [of their manufacture] can they become unclean? When their manufacture is finished.15 And when is their manufacture finished? — R. Johanan ruled: When they are tempered in a furnace. Resh Lakish maintained: When they have been furbished in water. Said he to him: ‘A robber understands his trade.’16 Said he to him, ‘And wherewith have you benefited me: there [as a robber] I was called Master, and here I am called Master.’17 ‘By bringing you under the wings of the Shechinah,’ he retorted. R. Johanan therefore felt himself deeply hurt,18 [as a result of which] Resh Lakish fell ill. His sister [sc. R. Johanan's, the wife of Resh Lakish] came and wept before him: ‘Forgive him19 for the sake of my son,’ she pleaded. He replied: ‘Leave thy fatherless children. I will preserve them alive.’20 ‘For the sake of my widowhood then!’ ‘And let thy widows trust in me,’21 he assured her. Resh Lakish died, and R. Johanan was plunged into deep grief. Said the Rabbis, ‘Who shall go to ease his mind? Let R. Eleazar b. Pedath go, whose disquisitions are very subtle.’ So he went and sat before him; and on every dictum uttered by R. Johanan he observed: ‘There is a Baraitha which Supports you.’ ‘Are you as the son of Lakisha?’22 he complained: ‘when I stated a law, the son of Lakisha used to raise twenty-four objections, to which I gave twenty-four answers, which consequently led to a fuller comprehension of the law; whilst you say, "A Baraitha has been taught which supports you:" do I not know myself that my dicta are right?’ Thus he went on rending his garments and weeping, ‘Where are you, O son of Lakisha, where are you, O son of Lakisha;’ and he cried thus until his mind was turned. Thereupon the Rabbis prayed for him, and he died.

Bailout - Chrysler says thanks with expensive ads

Fox News reports:

Chrysler is facing a backlash from taxpayers and conservative groups after the ailing auto company took out a series of full-page newspaper ads last week to thank Americans for "investing" in the company through the government's $17.4 billion auto industry bailout plan.

Critics say the company, which is expected to receive about $4 billion of that bailout money in the near term, should not be spending its already limited resources on pricey advertisements.

"It's quite ridiculous to be spending that kind of money," said Princella Smith, national spokeswoman for American Solutions, an organization headed by former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich. "Those ads are just a precise example of the fact that they do not get it ... and it's just in our faces."

The ads ran last week in several major daily newspapers, including USA Today, The Wall Street Journal and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Since USA Today and The Wall Street Journal are two of the highest-circulation newspapers in the country, full-page ad rates are steep. A full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal runs between $206,000 and $264,000, and a full-page ad in USA Today runs between $112,000 and $217,000. [...]

Bailout - $25 million parachute

Fox News:

A former top executive at Merrill Lynch who received a $25 million golden parachute after just three months of work has purchased a $37 million Park Avenue palace.

Peter Kraus, 55, paid the staggering sum for a five-bedroom co-op on New York's posh Park Avenue after getting a $25 million buyout from Merrill Lynch when the company was sold to Bank of America in September, the New York Post reported.

• Click here to see more photos of the $37 million palace.

The 15-room apartment — featuring 11-foot-high ceilings, four fireplaces, three maid's rooms, a mahogany-paneled library and a gym upstairs — sold for twice what the previous owners, Democratic fund-raisers Carl Spielvogel and Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel, paid for it nearly two years ago, the Post reported.

Although he did not officially start work until September, Kraus hit it big after just a couple of days in office, when the Merrill Lynch's CEO sold the company to Bank of America for $50 billion during the market meltdown. [...]

Chabad - R' Holtzberg's son niftar

Does Chabad utilize Dor Yeshorim?

Haaretz reports

Another tragedy befell the family of Mumbai attack victims Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg on Tuesday, as long-term illness claimed the life of the couple's 4-year-old son.

Dov Holtzberg, the brother of Moshe who was saved from the terrorist attack in Mumbai last month by his Indian nanny, had been struggling with a genetic illness since birth.

Over the past few years, while his parents and younger brother resided in the Chabad House in Mumbai, Dov had been hospitalized at a nursing institution in Israel under the care of his grandparents.

His body will be laid to rest later on Tuesday in Jerusalem, next to his parents and his older brother Menachem, who died from the same genetic illness.[...]

Holocaust denial & hoaxes

Time Magazine reported: [see also NY Times]

O No. After inviting Holocaust survivor Herman Rosenblat on her show not once, but twice, to promote his memoir Angel at the Fence, Oprah Winfrey proclaimed his memoir "the single greatest love story" she had ever heard. But like James Frey, the Oprah-endorsed author of yore, Rosenblat apparently took it upon himself to "embellish" his life story a bit. That part about meeting his wife after she began secretly tossing apples and bread to him over the fence at the Buchenwald concentration camp? Not true. (Never mind that the book's entire plot, not to mention its title, revolves around this claim). After several Holocaust scholars questioned the book's authenticity (noting that the layout of Buchenwald would not have permitted such clandestine exchanges) and The New Republic published a lengthy article debunking many of the book's central points, Rosenblat fessed up. "I wanted to bring happiness to people," the author explained through his agent a day before the book's publisher decided to cancel the upcoming release. Looks like Rosenblat is destined to join the ranks of disgraced Holocaust author Misha Defonseca, whose A Memoir of the Holocaust Years about escaping the Nazis and being raised by wolves turned out to be — shockingly — not true in the least.

Psychology of Evil - Milgram study II

NYTimes

[...] The Milgram experiment’s startling result — as anyone who has taken a college psychology course knows — was that ordinary people were willing to administer a lot of pain to innocent strangers if an authority figure instructed them to do so. More than 80 percent of participants continued after administering the 150-volt shock, and 65 percent went all the way up to 450 volts.

Jerry Burger of Santa Clara University replicated the experiment and has now published his findings in American Psychologist. He made one slight change in the protocol, in deference to ethical standards developed since 1963. He stopped when a participant believed he had administered a 150-volt shock. (He also screened out people familiar with the original experiment.)

Professor Burger’s results were nearly identical to Professor Milgram’s. Seventy percent of his participants administered the 150-volt shock and had to be stopped. That is less than in the original experiment, but not enough to be significant.

Much has changed since 1963. The civil rights and antiwar movements taught Americans to question authority. Institutions that were once accorded great deference — including the government and the military — are now eyed warily. Yet it appears that ordinary Americans are about as willing to blindly follow orders to inflict pain on an innocent stranger as they were four decades ago.

Professor Burger was not surprised. He believes that the mindset of the individual participant — including cultural influences — is less important than the “situational features” that Professor Milgram shrewdly built into his experiment. These include having the authority figure take responsibility for the decision to administer the shock, and having the participant increase the voltage gradually. It is hard to say no to administering a 195-volt shock when you have just given a 180-volt shock.

The results of both experiments pose a challenge. If this is how most people behave, how do we prevent more Holocausts, Abu Ghraibs and other examples of wanton cruelty? Part of the answer, Professor Burger argues, is teaching people about the experiment so they will know to be on guard against these tendencies, in themselves and others.[...]

Chazal I - Agada & R' Hirsch

In our discussion of the meaning of Chanuka, I was asked about the relationship between views of Achronim and Chazal - in particular about R. S. R. Hirsch's view. This is an excerpt from his letter that he wrote on the subject. This is more fully presented in Daas Torah pages 225-236

Rav S. R. Hirsch[i](Letter on Agada): Without doubt the greatness and loftiness of the wisdom and ethics of our Sages found in their Agada and Medrash is beyond measure. It is certain that they planted in their orchards of wisdom the knowledge and understanding that their pure spirits drew from the springs of Torah and mitzvos. That is why they glorified and praised the words of Agada which draws a person’s heart and brings him to love his Father in Heaven. In addition, since even the ordinary conversation of a Torah scholar needs to be studied, so surely this is true of the statements our Sages made with the intent of teaching and improving us. There is nothing in Agada which is meaningless and if it seems that way it is entirely because of our inability to comprehend. Nevertheless, our Sages put a great barrier between Agada and Halacha by stating that one does not learn Halacha from Agada and that Agadic statements do not have to be consistent with each other. This makes sense in my opinion since Agadic statements are not built upon Tradition from Sinai which is the basis for the covenant that was created there. They are in fact based entirely upon the individual human reasoning of wise men. It is quite obvious that any genuinely intelligent person will readily submit to each and every one of our Sages even for matters that are not from Tradition but concerning human reasoning. Furthermore, each one of our Sages is greater than all of us put together and that we are like grasshoppers in relationship to their greatness. Nevertheless, Agada is not part of our obligation to accept as Jews. Therefore, if a person’s reasoning leads him to reject any statement of Agada he is not considered as a heretic. This is especially true since that the Sages themselves differ on so many issues and there is no rule whose view is authoritative as there is concerning halacha.

---

[i] רב ש. ר. הירש (על הגדות חז"ל תרגום ע"י ר' מ. ברויאר המעין יז:ב ע' א-טז): באין ספק אין ערך לגודל ורוממות החכמה והמוסר אשר המציאו לנו חז"ל בדברי אגדותם ומדרשיהם, וודאי כל מי בינה ודעת ששאבה רוחם הטהור והנעלה ממעיני התורה והמצוות נטעו נטעי נאמנים בתוך ערוגת פרדסיהם. ועל כן פיארו ושבחו חז"ל דברי האגדה שהם מושכין לב האדם ומביאין אותו לאהוב את אביהו שבשמים. ואם אפי' שיחת חולין של ת"ח צריכין לימוד ק"ו לכל הדברים שאמרו בכוונה דרך לימוד ומוסר, ואין בו דבר ריק, ואם ריק הוא ממנו הוא, ששכלנו קצר מהשיג. ומ"מ גדר גדול גדרו חז"ל וחומה נשגבה ובצורה הקימו בין דברי השמועה וההלכה וכלל גדול מסרו לידינו: אין למדין הלכה מן דברי האגדה ואין משיבין מהם ועליהם. וכן בדין לענ"ד, דהא מבלד שכל דברי האגדה אינם מיוסדים על קבלה מסיני שעליה נכרת ברית הנעשה והנשמע אלא רק סברת [החכם] המגיד הם באומד דעתו, ואף שודאי מי שיש לו מוח בקדקדו ולב אדם להבין ולהשכיל בלב שמח ונפש חפצה יכוף ראשו לדעת כל חכם וחכם מחז"ל, אף שאינו מבאר הקבלה אלא מרוח בינתו הוציא מלין, אשר כל אחד ואחד מהם גדול ונשגב מכולנו יחדיו אשר כחגבים נדמינו בעינינו נגדם, מ"מ אינו מכלל חיוב הישראלי, וגם לא כמין וכופר יחשב מי שסברתו נוטה מסברת אחד מחכמינו ז"ל בענין מה השייך להאגדה, בפרט שגם בהרבה מקומות דעתם שונה זו מזו ולא נאמר כלל הכלה כדברי פלוני באגדה כמו בשמעתתא.

Religion & self-control /scientific evidence

NY Times reports:

If I’m serious about keeping my New Year’s resolutions in 2009, should I add another one? Should the to-do list include, “Start going to church”?

This is an awkward question for a heathen to contemplate, but I felt obliged to raise it with Michael McCullough after reading his report in the upcoming issue of the Psychological Bulletin. He and a fellow psychologist at the University of Miami, Brian Willoughby, have reviewed eight decades of research and concluded that religious belief and piety promote self-control.

This sounded to me uncomfortably similar to the conclusion of the nuns who taught me in grade school, but Dr. McCullough has no evangelical motives. He confesses to not being much of a devotee himself. “When it comes to religion,” he said, “professionally, I’m a fan, but personally, I don’t get down on the field much.”

His professional interest arose from a desire to understand why religion evolved and why it seems to help so many people. Researchers around the world have repeatedly found that devoutly religious people tend to do better in school, live longer, have more satisfying marriages and be generally happier.

These results have been ascribed to the rules imposed on believers and to the social support they receive from fellow worshipers, but these external factors didn’t account for all the benefits. In the new paper, the Miami psychologists surveyed the literature to test the proposition that religion gives people internal strength.

“We simply asked if there was good evidence that people who are more religious have more self-control,” Dr. McCullough. “For a long time it wasn’t cool for social scientists to study religion, but some researchers were quietly chugging along for decades. When you add it all up, it turns out there are remarkably consistent findings that religiosity correlates with higher self-control.” [...]

Chanuka in Mumbai

One Thousand Look On As Chabad kindles menorah in Mumbai

Lubavitch.com. Referred by R' Oliver

Mumbai, India—December 25--At the Gates of India Thursday evening, a crowd of approximately 1000 looked on in respectful curiosity as the fathers of the slain Gabi and Rivka Holtzberg lit the menorah.

The menorah lighting on this fifth night of Chanukah drew the attention of local Indians and visitors who frequented the Mumbai Chabad House, many still reeling from the recent terror attacks that put it in the limelight.

"This was the most moving menorah lighting I have ever been to," Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky, Vice Chairman of the Chabad-Lubavitch educational division, who flew from New York to participate, told Lubavitch.com

Earlier in the evening, in a more poignant setting, family, colleagues and friends of Gabi and Rivka who had come from Israel, New York, and other parts of the region, met at the Chabad House. The Chabad House is now in shambles, with signs of the calamity everywhere. As if to defy the aims to destroy this center of hospitality, the intimate group went up to the rooftop for an impromptu Chasidic farbrengen.

In a gesture richly symbolic of Chabad's determination not to let the evil of terror extinguish the light of Gabi and Rivkah, the hands of their parents reached out from the windows of the Chabad House—its façade now a familiar image to millions who had seen it under siege—to kindle its lights.

When asked by reporters if "Chabad is coming back to Mumbai," Rabbi Kotlarsky said, "We never left."

The Holtzbergs and the Rosenbergs are an inspiration, many say, determined as they are despite their great grief, to see Chabad's activities in Mumbai grow, and to ensure, says Rabbi Kotlarsky, that "The light of kindness and warmth that Gabi and Rivka radiated and that is yet very much alive, continues."

Ashkenazim are true Jews!

Nofia Vered Shem-Tov 's comment to "Descendants of Marranos (Anousim) - should they be...":

I am shocked and appalled that someone with the name "sephardi pride" would DARE insinuate that Ashkenazim aren't true Jews! and that it was let go with no reply or comment from anyone!!!

Does sephardi pride know that Avraham and Sarah were the first converts to Judaism?

Aside from that being proud of being Sephardi does not allow one to make outlandish comments or accusations that Jews aren't Jews!!!

Sephardi Pride is a bat anusah who is not being allowed to go to Mikvah because she has yet to convince any rabbi that she should be allowed to go. That she suffers emotional pain and feelings of rejection is understandable, but to call Jews Goyim is unacceptable and disgusting. With "Jews" like you who needs Goyim sephardi pride?

My own family is from Poland, and half Sephardi ()yes, there were Sephardim in Poland people!!!) and half Ashkenazi. All the Ashkenazis assimilated and the Sephardi Jews stayed religious. I decided to align myself with the Sephardi part because after hearing my case and that my father isn't Jewish a Beit Din gave me permission. But I would never go as far as to accuse my Ashkeazi relatives of being non-Jewish and not descendants of Avraham!!

The reason we have lasted as Jews for 3500 years is precisely because Judaism is NOT Christianity, we are not a faith only religion. We tell our children to be Jewish based on a hand written fact - the Torah, the five books of Moses, that has been passed down from generation to generation, since we first stood at Mt. Sinai. We don't ask our children to accept Judaism on faith, but on fact, on evidence of our dedication to keep laws that Hashem gave us over 3500 years ago.

All adult Jews were required to undergo their own conversion at Sinai, including immersion in a Mikvah. Men were also required to undergo circumcision. These are the same exact requirements we demand of converts today - that they, too, undergo the "Sinai treatment". It is understood that the Kuzars - if they even existed at all - did the same. I find it ridiculous that a fictitious group of people written about by one rabbi can all of a sudden be the so-called appointed ancestors of the Jewish people, and used by Sephardim to say Ashkenazis aren't Jews, when we have no actual evidence that Rabbi Yehuda HaLevi was actually writing about real people!!! Keep your fact and fiction straight people!!! Yehuda HaLevi was understood to be using a very large allegory for his writings.

Knife attack in Kiryat Sefer

Haaretz reports YNET reports:

A Palestinian laborer on Monday morning stabbed three Israelis in the ultra-Orthodox town of Kiryat Sefer, which lies near Modi'in. One of the wounded was reported in serious condition.

Another Israeli was later found wounded after suffering stab wounds at the hands of another Palestinian.

The first Palestinian stabber, who works as an air conditioner technician, attempted to flee following the attack. Armed civilians nearby opened fire, wounding him moderately before taking him into custody [...]

Lakewood - Beis Feige/ (was concert banned)

Hamercaz reports: [forwarded by RaP] Also reported here.

Lakewood, N.J. -- In a surprising, last-minute move, the Roshei Yeshiva and Mashgiach of Lakewood's Beis Medrash Gavoha, the largest Yeshiva in the world outside of Israel, issued a ban of a women's entertainment event that took place in Lakewood's Beis Yaakov High School Sunday night.

The event, entitled "Comedance", was billed as a show illustrating "the journey of life through comedy and dance", and featured women performers singing and dancing in front of an all-female audience. Although the performance met with no opposition when it took place at Boro Park and other venues in prior weeks, that was not the case in Lakewood.

An automated phone call recording reached thousands of Lakewood homes Sunday evening, notifying all household that the Roshei Yeshiva and Mashgiach, R' Kotler, Neuman, Schustal, Olshin and Salomon, had issued a ruling that the performance should not be attended. Ironically, this followed similar automated calls on behalf of the producers of the show that had been placed just hours before, reminding local women and girls to attend the event, which was advertised as a benefit for Tzedaka R' Meir Ba'al HaNes.[...]

Chanuka & Greek Philosophy - Any relationship?

Shabbos (21b): What is [the reason of] Hanukkah? For our Rabbis taught: On the twenty-fifth of Kislew22 [commence] the days of Hanukkah, which are eight on which a lamentation for the dead and fasting are forbidden.23 For when the Greeks entered the Temple, they defiled all the oils therein, and when the Hasmonean dynasty prevailed against and defeated them, they made search and found only one cruse of oil which lay with the seal of the High Priest,24 but which contained sufficient for one day's lighting only; yet a miracle was wrought therein and they lit [the lamp] therewith for eight days. The following year these [days] were appointed a Festival with [the recital of] Hallel25 and thanksgiving.

The gemora directly asks about the nature of Chanukah and answers that Chanukah is to commemorate the miracle of the oil burning in the Temple.

Similarly the Rambam(Hilchos Chanuka 3:1-3):

רמב"ם הלכות מגילה וחנוכה פרק ג

הלכה א

בבית שני כשמלכו יון גזרו גזרות על ישראל ובטלו דתם ולא הניחו אותם לעסוק בתורה ובמצות, ופשטו ידם בממונם ובבנותיהם ונכנסו להיכל ופרצו בו פרצות וטמאו הטהרות, וצר להם לישראל מאד מפניהם ולחצום לחץ גדול עד שריחם עליהם אלהי אבותינו והושיעם מידם והצילם וגברו בני חשמונאי הכהנים הגדולים והרגום והושיעו ישראל מידם והעמידו מלך מן הכהנים וחזרה מלכות לישראל יתר על מאתים שנה עד החורבן השני.

הלכה ב

וכשגברו ישראל על אויביהם ואבדום בחמשה ועשרים בחדש כסלו היה ונכנסו להיכל ולא מצאו שמן טהור במקדש אלא פך אחד ולא היה בו להדליק אלא יום אחד בלבד והדליקו ממנו נרות המערכה שמונה ימים עד שכתשו זיתים והוציאו שמן טהור.

הלכה ג
ומפני זה התקינו חכמים שבאותו הדור שיהיו שמונת הימים האלו שתחלתן מליל חמשה ועשרים בכסלו ימי שמחה והלל ומדליקין בהן הנרות בערב על פתחי הבתים בכל לילה ולילה משמונת הלילות להראות ולגלות הנס, וימים אלו הן הנקראין חנוכה והן אסורין בהספד ותענית כימי הפורים, והדלקת הנרות בהן מצוה מדברי סופרים כקריאת המגילה

The standard sources all indicate that the Syrians were trying to stop Jews from keeping Torah and mitzvos and that Chanukah was commemoration of the tremendous mesiras nefesh the Jews displayed in trying to observe the Torah.

My question - what is the source of the common understanding that Chanukah was a battle against Greek philosophy and secular knowledge?

Response to Gaza attacks at last!

Haaretz reports:

Palestinians in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip fired at least 54 Qassam and Grad rockets into southern Israel on Saturday after Israeli air strikes killed more than 195 Palestinians in Gaza, according to Palestinian sources.

A home in the town of Netivot was hit by a grad missile, killing one and leaving four with moderate to serious injuries.

One rocket struck just outside Kiryat Gat, some 20 kilometers from Gaza. The strike marked the first time in the eight years since Hamas has been firing rockets into Israel that a rocket has struck the southern Israeli city. [...]