The Americanization of Mussar: Abraham Twerski's Twelve Steps

Judaism

Standing at the crossroads of religion and psychotherapy, mussar and Twelve Step recovery, the Jewish and the mass market, Abraham Twerski is a rare case study of intellectual and cultural interchange between Judaism and American society. Twerski's work has not yet been examined as a historical and cultural phenomenon. [2] Therefore, I want to introduce Abraham Twerski as a suitable and even tantalizing subject for scholars and, in so doing, to propose that this Hasidic psychiatrist signifies a major, twentieth-century American shift in the venerable tradition of mussar, Jewish ethical teachings. My essay explores two questions: What changes in the Jewish view of human nature are embodied in his writing? Which elements of American thought and culture does he adapt and incorporate into the mussar tradition? Working in the heart of what one historian has dubbed an "Alcoholic Republic," Twerski adopted the concepts of Alcoholics Anonymous, through which he gained new insight into both the human condition and Jewish tradition. [3]

Palestinians attack school bus with anti-tank rocket

Will rabbis allow brainy Shabbat driving?

JPOST

As the interface between brain and machine moves from science fiction to reality, rabbis will be debating whether a vehicle one merely sits in and drives solely with brain activity can be used on Shabbat.

This intriguing thought was discussed on Thursday by Rabbi Dr. Dror Fixler, an electrooptics engineer at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan, who was one of the speakers at Thursday’s 18th Torah and Science Conference of the Jerusalem College of Technology, Yeshiva University in Israel and BIU.

The all-day conference, which attracted around 200 men and women, was hosted by JCT president Prof. Noah Dana-Picard, a leading theoretical mathematician who heads the colleges for religious young men and, separately, young women, who study engineering and related subjects.

Fixler showed a recently released clip of a “proof of concept” vehicle that has a person inside who merely thinks of how to maneuver it. The vehicle drives itself safely, turning corners, slowing down and giving more gas. While this is “not something one should do at home,” the Autonomos company successfully tested the proof-of-concept car a few months ago, said the BIU engineer. [....]

All societies have right to survive - even by capital punishment

From Daas Torah - translation copyrighted

Chasam Sofer (O. H. #208): It seems to me that the rulers of any society have the right to execute and punish because of the verse “You have the responsibility for blood” (Devarim 19:10) as is interpreted in Mo’ed Koton (5a). It is logical that even if the Torah hadn’t been given they would have this right. And this was true also prior to the giving of the Torah since there were laws and civilized conduct and every king preserved society through laws (See Rema #10). When the Torah was given there was a reestablished of the laws of society and certain changes were made such as a thief had to pay double and a non dangerous ox paid half damages and the nature of the responsibility of watchmen. This of course doesn’t mean that harmful behavior which wasn’t mentioned in the Torah was permitted - such as damage which is not physically manifest because the ways of Torah are pleasant. Nevertheless they are not included in the laws of the Torah and the king and Sanhedrin are given the discretion according to place and time how to deal with these issues. So surely they have the right to remove the many harmful agents such as murderers who don’t have witnesses. The ways of the Torah are pleasant and all its paths are peace.

Police commander confesses to sexual harrassment - won't be charged

YNET

Police Commander Uri Bar-Lev will not stand trial for sexually harassing Dr. Orly Ines, Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein announced on Thursday.

The attorney general stated that although enough evidence has been gathered to base an indictment, it was decided to close the case after Bar-Lev apologized to Ines and announced that he will retire from the police. [...]

The Case for Having More Kids

NYTimes

Bryan Caplan, an economist at George Mason, is the author of “Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids,” which will be released this week. Mr. Caplan doesn’t believe everyone should have a lot of children. But he does say many parents and future parents should consider having more children than they are currently planning.

The economists at Marginal Revolution — colleagues of Mr. Caplan’s — have debated some of the book’s arguments in recent posts. Mr. Caplan also wrote a related article for The Wall Street Journal last year and commented on the “Tiger Mother” book for EconLog.[...]

Website for improving communication during mourning

YNET

ShivaListings.com has created a website aimed at helping friends and family during the Jewish mourning process. The free service is geared to the Jewish community as well as those who may need help in understanding the Jewish mourning practices.

 ShivaListings.com provides users with a variety of helpful features such as important details regarding the date, times and location of the funeral, cemetery services and shiva (the Jewish period of mourning after the funeral) as well as an information page (which displays information about common Jewish funeral customs). [...]

 

Abuse: Boot camps for troubled teens under attack

Time

For the last 40 years, teens with drug problems, learning disabilities and other behavioral issues have been sent to residential facilities to endure "tough love" techniques that are widely known to include methods of outright physical and psychological abuse.

Whether labeled as boot camps, emotional-growth schools, behavior modification programs or wilderness programs, these organizations have operated without federal oversight, and state regulation of the schools ranges from lax to nonexistent. Now, however, individual critics of the programs are using the Internet to find each other and mobilize, and are bringing change.

Consider the Elan School, in Poland, Maine, which has long been known for its extreme practices. On April 1, Elan shut its doors after four decades in operation, blaming negative publicity online for recent declines in enrollment. "The school has been the target of harsh and false attacks spread over the Internet with the avowed purpose of forcing the school to close," Sharon Terry, Elan's executive director, told the Lewiston Maine Sun Journal.

Rashi questioning assertion of gemora (Berachos 33b)

Berachos (33b): R’ Zera said: Choose the statement of Rabbi Chiya bar Abba because he is very precise in reporting the statements of his teacher like Rachava of Pumbedisa. Because Rachva said in the name of Rabbi Yehuda ….

Rashi (Berachos 33b): Choose the statement of Rabbi Chiya bar Aba…but this is very problematic. First of all Rachava never saw Rabbi Yehuda. He never saw Rabbi Yehuda the son of Rabbi Elai or Rabbi Yehuda Hanassi. Second -  all the other Amoraim were also very precise in reporting matters in the name of the one who originally said them. Furthermore what is quoted doesn’t show that he was being precise…

Eliyahu (Pinchas) will restore Mesora in Messianic Times

From Daas Torah - translation copyrighted

Brisker Rav (Malachi 2:4-7): And you shall know that I have sent this commandment to you, that my covenant might be with Levi, says G d. My covenant was with him for life and peace… The Torah of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips; he walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many away from iniquity. For the priest’s lips should guard knowledge, and they should seek the Torah from his mouth; for he is a messenger of G-d. We need to understand G d’s promise to return the Mesora (tradition) to the Jewish people in Messianic times. How is it possible to restore the Tradition – which has been passed in an unbroken chain from one person to another going back to Moshe? This chain of the transmission of the Torah has already been broken many generations ago! It appears that Eliyahu HaNavi - who is one of the transmitters of the Tradition (Introduction to Mishna Torah) - will come and restore the Tradition. That is explicit in the verse, “My covenant was with him for life and peace.” This verse is referring to Pinchas [it is the covenant he got after he killed Zimri]. That is why these verses conclude, “For the lips of the cohen should guard knowledge”. This is according to the view that Pinchas and Eliyahu are the same person and he will guard Torah for Israel, as it says, “And they shall seek Torah from his mouth.” That means that Torah will be requested from him and he will return Torah to Israel. (When this explanation was told to Rav Chaim Brisker he responded that it had been stolen from him. He added that is why teachers explain to their students that the word “teiku” [which indicates an apparently unanswerable question] is an abbreviation meaning that Eliyahu will answer questions and difficulties. The purpose of this is to implant the belief in the heart of the child that Eliyahu will restore the Torah) … However the question remains as to why Eliyahu merited to be the one to restore the Tradition. It would appear that this is the result of the incident with Zimri in which the halacha was forgotten. Pinchas was the one who saw what was happening and remembered the halacha. He told Moshe, “We have received the halacha from you that one who has sexual relations with a non Jew is killed by zealots.” Moshe responded, “The one who read the letter should carry it out.” Immediately he took a spear … [and killed Zimri] (See Rashi at the end of Balak and Sanhedrin 82). Because Pinchas was the one who returned the halacha at that time he merited be the one who would restore it in Messianic times. That is implicit in these verses, “The Torah of truth was in his mouth…and he saved many from sin.”  That is why it concludes, “The cohen’s lips shall protect knowledge and they will ask Torah from his mouth.” Therefore also in the times of Moshiach he will be with the one that people will seek Torah from his mouth.

Abusive 8 yr old - pepper sprayed by police in class

ABC

Colorado police and school officials are defending a decision to pepper spray a second grade boy who threatened to kill his teachers.

Aidan Elliot seems like a typical video game loving 8 year old, but what happened in his Glennon Heights Elementary School on Feb. 28 was hardly typical.

"I kind of blow up a little," Aidan said. "I said I'm going to kill you once you get out of that room."

Aidan is in a class for kids with behavior problems. He became enraged, spitting and throwing chairs and even threatening teachers and students with a sharp piece of wood he held like a knife. [...]

Yale accused of failure to deal with sexual abuse

yahoo

Federal civil rights officials are investigating complaints by Yale University students that the Ivy League university has a sexually hostile environment and has failed to adequately respond to sexual harassment concerns.

The U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights confirmed Friday that it has begun an investigation at Yale. The office gets about 7,000 complaints per year and investigates about one-third of them.

The complaint, sent March 15, alleges that the university failed to respond promptly or effectively to incidents of harassment, resulting in the denial of equal opportunity, the office said.[...]

Mental illness of abuse is pikuach nefesh even if not life threatening

from Daas Torah - translation copyrighted

Mordechai (Shabbos 424):. R”i bar Sholom explains that all the cases in the gemora where the choleh says it is necessary (tzarich) is to be understand to mean that it appears to choleh that he will die if they don’t feed him because he thinks that he is in a life threatening condition. There are also commentaries which write concerning the matter of Rav Yannai where the choleh says tzarich where it is understood that it talking about possible life threatening circumstances…. All the cases which are brought in the gemora, our Sages were experts in medicine and they knew these cases were life threatening (sakana) such as lighting a candle when a blind women requested it, or breaking down the door when a child was locked in. It would therefore seem that we are not considered experts in the issue of when to feed a choleh while the choleh is. Therefore if the choleh says that his life is not endangered if he doesn’t eat -  it is prohibited to feed him. This is the same for the question of profaning Shabbos to save someone. For example Avoda Zara (28b) states that if an eye is severely tearing it is permitted to put medicine in it on Shabbos. The gemora explains that this is permitted because there is a connection between the eye and the heart and thus it is life threatening. Consequently if the only concern is for the loss of the eye but we don’t consider it to be life threatening - it would not be permitted to put the medicine in the eye on Shabbos.

However Rabbeinu Tam disagrees with this understanding and he has issued permissive rulings in actual cases even when it is not life threatening. This is what he said: Are the sick people prophets or experts in medicine [that we rely on their judgment to permit violating Shabbos or Yom Kippur]? The fact of the matter is that since the sick person or one who recently gave birth is aware that it is Shabbos or Yom Tov and nevertheless says they need to eat or have Shabbos profaned for them – that means they are not able to bear the pain and discomfort which results from their condition. That is why we feed them on Yom Kippur. And this is true even if they are not in life threating conditions (choleh shain bo sakana). For example, how do we consider that being bitten by a mad dog is life threatening or the case of Rav Ashi and Mar Zutra (Kesubos 61a)? Therefore even though the majority of sick people will recover but nevertheless we are lenient when there is even a possibility of danger or severe mental illness (tiruf daas). The expression “that they are going to die” should not confuse you because that is the expression used by the Talmud and you would want to know then what does “a possibility of death mean.” In fact when the Talmud talks about the concern that these people will die it is not to be taken literally. The term death in these cases is a fear that the person will get sick or deteriorate in some way. This understanding is obviously correct. Thus if the sick person asks to eat or drink it is permitted to feed him or give him drink because the lack of food causes him pains in the heart and because of that he will faint and there are times he won’t recover. Thus even there is only the loss of a limb, I would call it a danger and would therefore permit Shabbos to be profaned. We also see this concerning an injury to the interior of the body where the majority of such cases do not die and similarly the case of pregnant women who smell food - we see that they don’t die and yet we are permitted to feed them. Consequently all cases which involve a lost to the body or loss to a limb or embryo is a danger (sakana). We learn this from the case of the mother who recently gave birth or a pregnant woman or someone who is bled and becomes chilled – that it is permitted to make a fire even during the summer even though we have no concern that they will die from this condition So if Shmuel who was a doctor as well as the Sages who were familiar to some degree about medicine and they said that an individual is knowledgeable about his own suffering. So if they literally meant dying that means that all men are experts in this matter for themselves and the statement can’t be reversed. But in fact even if a person screamed out that he wasn’t going to die from this condition - that we have evaluated that he can’t bear – it is permitted ignore him to profane Shabbos according to our judgment….

Sexual abuse trials of Weberman & Dascalowitz

YUBEACON

At 10:15 on Friday morning, Nechemya Weberman was seen before the judge in the Kings County Supreme Court for what promises to be a long trial involving his alleged rape and sexual assault of a 12 year old girl for three years as she was seeing him as a therapy patient. Weberman was arrested in connection with this on February 23rd and is currently out on $15,000 bail.

Weberman’s lawyer, a slick looking man in an expensive suit, turned down Judge Patricia Dimangos’ offer of five years imprisonment and maintained a pleading of not guilty. The court scheduled to meet again on Wednesday, May 11th for the next step in the proceedings. The trial itself has not been yet set. These proceedings can drag out for months or years, often wearing the victim and her supporters thin.

The defendant is a 53 year old married, unlicensed therapist from the sequestered community of Williamsburg, New York, where almost everyone is Chasidic. The courtroom was filled with Hasidim, most of whom were there to support the victim. Weberman’s wife, son, and two sisters sat in the back corner, avoiding the glances of curious audience members.[...]