Pnei Yehoshua - the righteous suffer for the sake of others

Daas Torah page 284

Pnei Yehoshua (Berachos 5a): If one can not find a sin that justifies the suffering then it is suffering of love. Rashi explains that G﷓d afflicts undeserved suffering in order to increase the reward in the World to Come. Why should G﷓d afflict the tzadik when there is no need for the suffering - since no person would torture his friend in order to give him extra presents. And the question seem even stronger since all the worlds belong to G﷓d and He can freely give them to whomever He wants. Furthermore this gemora also states that the World to Come is only given through suffering. Why should this be? An obvious answer is that the soul is not capable - even after it has separated from the body - to receive the light of the transcendent World to Come without suffering…. However this explanation doesn’t fit the language of Rashi that the purpose is to receive greater reward than his merit. The explanation of Rashi could be that the undeserved suffering is to atone for the sin of other Jews as we see in Sanhedrin (39a)… Thus G﷓d does not want the world destroyed. If he brings suffering on the average person it is possible he won’t accept the suffering willingly and will rebel - Heaven forbid! Therefore He brings the suffering on the righteous who are willing to accept it with love for the sake of all Jews. Since this tzadik brought merit to the masses by his suffering, he receives his own reward and also their reward in the World to Come. He also obviously receives the portion of the wicked who have lost their portion in the World to Come. This latter explanation seems to be the understanding of Rashi while the original explanation seems to better fit the language of the gemora.

Israel Sees Hopeful Signs in Collapse of Peace Talks

NYTimes

When it became clear a month ago that American and Israeli officials were negotiating a partial, one-time, 90-day Israeli settlement construction freeze in exchange for American military hardware and diplomatic guarantees, few analysts applauded.

Instead, they asked: Would pro-settler Israeli cabinet ministers accede to another freeze? Would the Palestinians accept a freeze that did not include East Jerusalem? And beyond that, how could the two sides solve enough in 90 days to prevent the talks from collapsing and, in the worst case, setting off violence?

With Tuesday’s announcement that the White House had abandoned that approach and was no longer asking for a settlement freeze, it became clear that those questions had grown too big to ignore. Officials said that every element of the deal posed profound difficulties, and that the wisest course was to step back and start over. [...]

Suit Over American Targeted Killings Is Thrown Out of U.S. court

NYTimes

A federal judge on Tuesday threw out a lawsuit that had sought to block the American government from trying to kill Anwar al-Awlaki, a United States citizen and Muslim cleric in hiding overseas who is accused of helping to plan attacks by Al Qaeda’s branch in Yemen.

The ruling, which clears the way for the Obama administration to continue to try to kill Mr. Awlaki, represents a victory in its efforts to shield from judicial review so-called targeted killings, one of its most striking counterterrorism policies.

In an 83-page opinion, Judge John D. Bates said Mr. Awlaki’s father, the plaintiff, had no standing to file the lawsuit on behalf of his son. He also said decisions about targeted killings in such circumstances were a “political question” for executive branch officials to make — not judges. [...]

Leading Haredi rabbi refuses to endorse letter forbidding the rental of homes to Arabs

Haaretz

Although the authors of the rabbinical edict forbidding the sale or rental of homes to non-Jews managed to collect the signatures of 39 leading rabbis around the country, they failed to enlist a leading Haredi rabbi, chair of the Degel Hatorah Council of Sages, Aaron Leib Steinman.

Steinman refused an audience with Safed Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu this week, when the latter arrived to pray at the former's courtyard in an attempt to convince the Bnei Brak spiritual leader to sign the letter instructing Jews not to rent or sell property to Arabs or any other non-Jews. [...]

Rambam: Islam says that everything is governed by Providence

Daas Torah page 280

Rambam (Moreh Nevuchim 3:17):  ... (3) Everything is controlled by Providence and there is no such thing as accident or chance at all. A corollary of this view is that the one who governs must have total knowledge of what will happen in the future. This is the view of the Islamic sect - the Ashariya. This view has tremendous problems and whoever accepts it is obligated to accept the inherent absurdities. For example they must accept the view of Aristotle that there is no difference between the falling of a leaf and the death of a person! They in fact agree to this equality but explain that in fact the wind itself only blows by the decree of G﷓d and not by chance. Furthermore no leaf falls by chance but at a particular time and place by the direct decree of G﷓d… Those accept this view also must believe all the movements of all living things are totally determined and that therefore man has neither the ability to initiate nor stop doing anything. Thus everything is totally determined and either must happen or can’t happen… It necessarily follows from this view that the Torah itself serves no purpose since man has no independent ability to obey what he is commanded to do or desist from that which he was commanded not to do. Those who accept this view say that G﷓d will send messengers, command , warn, give hope and threaten - even though man has no free will. Thus it is possible that a person will be obligated to do something totally impossible and that even if a person fulfills the command he still might be punished while someone who transgresses will be rewarded. Therefore this view assumes that G﷓d’s activities serve no purpose. All of these absurdities are inherent in this view so that when we see a person who was born blind or leprous it is not possible to conclude that these result from sin - but only that this is the will of G﷓d. When we see a pious person tortured to death - we can only say that this is G﷓d’s will and that this is not an injustice because it appropriate for G﷓d to afflict the innocent and reward the sinner…

'Mossad may be behind Red Sea shark attacks'

YNet

Shark attacks on tourists in the Red Sea have triggered a flurry of speculation as to what could have caused them, with suggestions ranging from overfishing to an Israeli plot to harm Egyptian tourism. [...]

Dutch leader: 'I see no future for Jews in the Netherlands'

JPost

Former European Union Commissioner Frits Bolkenstein said that Jews have no future in the Netherlands and recommended that they emigrate to the US or Israel, Dutch magazine Elsevier reported on Tuesday.

According to a book on Dutch Judaism, released this week, Bolkestein, former leader of the right-wing VVD party, said that due to anti-Semitism amongst young Moroccans Jews who look like Jews - those who wear kippahs or payot - should leave Holland for their own safety. [...]

Former Yeshiva Principal Sought on incest charges

NYTimes

A former Brooklyn yeshiva principal and three of his sons sexually abused four of the principal’s other children, molesting one of the victims over 15 years, the authorities said Friday.

The police are still looking for the man, Rabbi Gershon Kranczer, 58, and one of his sons, Asher Kranczer, 21, who they believe fled to Israel earlier this week. Another son, Yechezkel Kranczer, 24, turned himself in to the police on Thursday and has been charged with 70 counts of sexual abuse and 2 counts of endangering the welfare of a child.

The third son, a 15-year-old whose name was withheld by the authorities, was brought in for questioning on Wednesday, made statements implicating himself in the abuse and was arrested, said Paul J. Browne, the Police Department’s chief spokesman.

The authorities believe the abuse occurred in a three-story house in Midwood, Brooklyn, that Rabbi Kranczer shared with his wife and 12 of his 14 children. Neighbors said the family had lived in the house for more than 20 years. A law enforcement official said the house had a large kitchen and several bunk beds.

As Bullies Go Digital, Parents Play Catch-Up

NYTimes

Ninth grade was supposed to be a fresh start for Marie’s son: new school, new children. Yet by last October, he had become withdrawn. Marie prodded. And prodded again. Finally, he told her.

The kids say I’m saying all these nasty things about them on Facebook,” he said. “They don’t believe me when I tell them I’m not on Facebook.”

But apparently, he was.

Marie, a medical technologist and single mother who lives in Newburyport, Mass., searched Facebook. There she found what seemed to be her son’s page: his name, a photo of him grinning while running — and, on his public wall, sneering comments about teenagers he scarcely knew.

Someone had forged his identity online and was bullying others in his name. [...]

In Pakistan, Christianity Earns a Death Sentence

Time

It all began a year and a half ago, with a quarrel over a bowl of water. A group of women farm workers were suffering in the heat near a village in Pakistans Punjab province. Aasia Noreen, an illiterate 45-year-old mother five, offered them water, but was rebuffed. Noreen was a Christian, they said, and therefore her water was unclean — sadly, a common taunt hurled at Pakistan's beleaguered Christians. But rather than swallowing the indignity, she mounted a stout defense of her faith.

Word of the exchange swiftly filtered through the village of Ittan Wali, in Sheikhupura district. The local mullah took to his mosque's loudspeakers, exhorting his followers to take action against Noreen. In a depressingly familiar pattern, her defense of her faith was twisted into an accusation of blasphemy, according to her family and legal observers familiar with the case. As a frenzied mob pursued her, the police intervened, taking her into custody. But far from protecting her, they arrested and charged Noreen with insulting Islam and its prophet. And on Nov. 8, after enduring 18 months in prison, she was sentenced to death by a district court, making her the first woman to suffer that fate. [...]

Israel Struggles to Quell Forest Fire

NYTimes

Israel was still struggling on Friday to control a fire raging in a rain-starved forest in northern Israel that has left at least 41 people dead, caused the evacuation of thousands of residents, destroyed some kibbutz houses and prompted the government to call for urgent international aid in fighting the blaze.

A spokesman for the fire service in the area, Hezi Levy, said the fire, which broke out on Thursday morning, was the biggest and deadliest in Israel’s history.

The scale of the crisis forced Israel, which prides itself on being one of the world’s most nimble and generous countries in disaster relief, into the unusual position of petitioner. Early on Friday, a plane from Greece carrying personnel and equipment and a Bulgarian plane with about 100 firefighters landed at an air force base in the north of the country. [...]