רבי חיים במכתב: להוציא קובץ של הרב גרוס מהבית

Update 12/31/12:  Rav Simcha Bunim Lazerson kuntres resolves all issues

kikarhashabat   מרן שר התורה הגאון רבי חיים קניבסקי יוצא הבוקר במכתב חריף נגד קובץ תשובות הלכתי של גאב"ד 'חניכי הישיבות' הרב מרדכי גרוס, וקורא להוציאו מהבית בשל דברים שנדפסו בו של חילול שבת. בתגובה, הורה הרב גרוס לאנשיו לבטל את המנוי ל'יתד נאמן' (חרדים

ויכוח הלכתי סוער או קרע פוליטי חריף? נראה שבציבור הליטאי, בצורה זו או אחרת הכל בסופו של דבר קשור זה בזה.

בעיתון 'יתד נאמן' מופיע הבוקר (רביעי) מכתב חריף ממרן שר התורה הגאון רבי חיים קניבסקי שליט"א נגד קובץ תשובות הלכתי של גאב"ד 'חניכי הישיבות' הרב מרדכי גרוס.

update November 27 2012
דברי הרב דרזי

The following is the article that is being criticized- downloading & printer options turned off

Electricity Watermeters & Air Conditioners

Rav Lazerson's kuntres explaining Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach's views

Rav Lazerson Digital Water Meters Shabbos

Rav Wolbe:Near death experiences and Judaism

This is an excerpt taken from Rav Shlomo Wolbe "Psychiatry and Religion" pages 83-84 Relevant to neurosurgeon's near death experience

‏ פסיכיאטרית ודת - הרב שלמת וולבח

בטיפול בגוססים

הפסיכיאטרית א. קיבלר·רוס ( E. Kubler-Ross ‏) הביאה על-ידי ספרי' להתעוררת לעזרו לפציינטים הנוטים למות. עוד זאת: ורב בני אדם מתים היום בבית החולים ולא בחיק משפחתם. עובדה זאת מעמידה אח האחים והאחיות של ביה"ח בפני הבעי', כיצד מטפלים בנוטה למות? הרי שאלה: כיצד מכינים אדם למות?

מהו האספקט החדש של השאלה? בני אדם ש"מתו" מוות קליני והוחזרו אל החיים, מספרים כולם על חוויות עילאיות דווקא בזמן שהיו "מתים". הם מספרים, שה"אני" שלהם חי' רוחף מעל גופה שלהם, מבלי להדגיש כל כאב, ההכרה מתרחבת מאד ומרגישה נעימות עצומה. כאשר הנסיון להחיותם מצליח וה"אני" מוחזר לתוך הגוף, אין זו הרגשה נעימה כלל, ורק בעל-כרחו חוא חוזר לחיים - ולכאבים המתחילים אז. פרופסור לנוירולוגי' שהיתה לו חוי' זו, כחב עלי' ספר 66 ‏, דוחו"ת רבים על חויות אלה נאספו ונותחו 67 ‏, אין ספק במהימנות הדוחו"ת והספורים בענין זה.

‏דברים אלה הביאו למבט חדש על הגוסס המוטל במיטה, כנראה בלי הכרה, פניו מעוותות מכאבים והתכווצויות, הנשימה - נשימת גוססים. והנה כל הדוחו"ת והסיפורים הנ"ל נותנים לכו להבין, כי דווקא כעת מגיע הגוסס הזה לחוויות העדינות ביותר בחייו, חרף הרושם העגום של גופו ההולך ומתבטל! זה מטיל חיוב על המטפלים בגוסס, להקדיש לו מקסימום של זהירות, וגם הוא נותן מקום לחולה עצמו להתכונן לקראת מןתו: הרי הוא הולך לקראת הרגעים שיהיו אולי הנעלים ביותר בחייו: לא התבטלות וכאב, אלא התעלות היא המיתה! 

‏הדברים תואמים את מה שהורונו חכמי ישראל. ישנו פרק בתהילים המתאר יממה בקוסמוס. פרק זה מתחיל: "ברכי נפשי אח ה'! ה' אלקי, גדלת מאד, הוד והדך לבשת!" 68 ‏וחז"ל אומרים 6P ‏כי דוד המלך חיבר פרק זה כאשר "הסתכל ביום המיתה". הבינו חז"ל, כי למבט גרנדיוזי כזה על בורא ובריאה יכול אדם להגיע רק "ביום המיתה". רק כשהוא עומד על סף יציאתו מן העולם מתגלה לאדם גדלותו האמיתיח של הקב"ה, ורק אז הוא מגיע למבט מקיף על הקוסמוס. ובתוך פרק זה עצמו נאמר גם דבר נפלא על המיתה: "תסתיר פניך - יבהלון, תוסף רוחם - יגועון ואל עפרם ישובון 69 ‏, חכמי ישראל פירשו אח זה, כי סמוך למיתתו מקבל האדם תוספת עצומה ברוחו, והוא רואה מה שלא הורשה לראות בחייו, ומתוך עצמת הראי' נפרדת נפשו מתוך גופו.

‏מסתמא לא כולם זוכים לכן. ההלכה קובעת: "וגוסס הרי הוא כחי לכל דבר" o ‏ד. הגסיסה היא המשך החיים. אדם קטנוני בשאר קטנוני עד הרגע האחרון שהוא בהכרה. אבל כשההכרה עוזבת אותו - מי יודע מה צפוי לו אז! נוראי יש לטפל בו בזהירות רבה, כפי שההלכה קובעת ‏(אסור לנגוע בו!).

Neurosurgeon's near-death revelation is a best-seller

NYTimes   For years Dr. Eben Alexander III had dismissed near-death revelations of God and heaven as explainable by the hard wiring of the human brain. He was, after all, a neurosurgeon with sophisticated medical training. 

But then in 2008 Dr. Alexander contracted bacterial meningitis. The deadly infection soaked his brain and sent him into a deep coma. 

During that week, as life slipped away, he now says, he was living intensely in his mind. He was reborn into a primitive mucky Jell-o-like substance and then guided by “a beautiful girl with high cheekbones and deep blue eyes” on the wings of a butterfly to an “immense void” that is both “pitch black” and “brimming with light” coming from an “orb” that interprets for an all-loving God.

Dr. Alexander, 58, was so changed by the experience that he felt compelled to write a book, “Proof of Heaven,” that recounts his experience. He knew full well that he was gambling his professional reputation by writing it, but his hope is that his expertise will be enough to persuade skeptics, particularly medical skeptics, as he used to be, to open their minds to an afterworld. 

See Rav Wolbe's discussion of near death experience

Chinese diplomat saved thousands during WWII

YNet   The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has posthumously honored Dr. Feng Shan Ho, a Chinese diplomat who issued thousands of visas to Jewish refugees during World War II.

The ADL Jan Karski Courage to Care Award, established in 1987 to honor rescuers of Jews during the Holocaust era, was presented posthumously to Dr. Ho on November 15 at the League’s Annual Meeting in Chicago where more than 500 leaders gathered.

The award was accepted by his daughter, Manli Ho, who conducted research and documentation for 15 years on her father’s story.

“Ho was among the first of a small number of diplomatic rescuers who took extraordinary measures and personal risk to do the right thing,” said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL national director. “During one of the darkest times in world history, this man stood up against a powerful evil, jeopardizing his own career, without recognition or compensation.

Why have a defective child? - problem of genetic tests

Times of Israel   Expectant mothers have long faced the choice of learning their babies’ gender while they’re still in the womb.

But what if parents could get a list of all the genes and chromosomes of their unborn children, forecasting everything from possible autism and future genetic diseases to intelligence level and eye color?

The technology to do just that — prenatal whole genome sequencing, which can detect all 20,000 to 25,000 genes in the genome from fetal blood present in the mother’s bloodstream — is already in laboratories. While not yet available in clinical settings because of the cost, once the price falls below $1,000, it is likely to become common, according to a report by the Hastings Center, a nonpartisan bioethics research institute. [...]

“Our real concern will be massive increases in the number of abortions,” said Rabbi Moshe Tendler, a professor of bioethics at Yeshiva University. “You have a young couple, 22, 23, 24 years old, and they don’t plan to have more than two or three children. Why take a defective child? I call it the perfect baby syndrome. The perfect baby does not exist.” [...]

The difference between prenatal sequencing and current genetic testing is the amount of information and its usefulness. Current tests look for specific genetic disorders. Prenatal sequencing is a fishing expedition, looking at everything.

Iran sending more rockets to Gaza

Haaretz   Israeli spy satellites have spotted an Iranian ship being loaded with missiles that analysts say may be headed for Gaza, The Sunday Times reported.

According to the report, the cargo may include Fajr-5 rockets, like those that were fired by Hamas toward Israel and the stockpiles of which the Israel Defense Forces depleted during the recent round of fighting across the Gaza border, in addition to Shahab-3 ballistic missiles, which could be stationed in Sudan to pose a direct threat to Israel.  [....]

“Regardless of the cease-fire agreement, we will attack and destroy any shipment of arms to Gaza once we have spotted it,” an Israeli defense source told the Times.

On Saturday, Reuters reported that senior Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahar said Hamas would continue to arm itself with the help of Iran, though the truce signed in Cairo calls for a cessation of rocket fire at Israel, which Israel gave as its reason for launching its attacks in mid-November.

Hamas & Egypt have little victory to celebrate

Telegraph    Yet perhaps, behind the public face, and certainly as Hamas leaders sheltered from Israeli smart missiles in their bunkers, the reality of Hamas's victory was less clear cut. Once again, Israeli F16 fighter aircraft, naval vessels, tanks and Apache helicopters have rained destruction on Gaza, much of it carefully targeted, creating hundreds of craters and reducing homes and government buildings to rubble. 

In more than 1,500 strikes, the Israeli military says it successfully targeted 30 factional leaders, 19 Hamas command centres and countless ministries. The network of smuggling tunnels to Egypt, which not only delivered arms to the Hamas government but also brought substantial revenue through a cash levy on everything transported, has been badly damaged. 

That certainly is the view in Jerusalem. Dan Meridor, Israel's urbane intelligence minister, was particularly scathing about the claims of both Hamas and the more radical Islamic Jihad to have brought fear to the heart of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, with missiles which struck their suburbs. 

"What happened in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem?" he said. " Nothing. They said the Gates of Hell would open. Well if that is Hell, it isn't such a bad place." 

More significantly, perhaps, is the secondary strategic result Israel has achieved. For with Hamas's new-found respectability also comes a responsibility - if not for Hamas, then at least for Egypt. 

Since last year's revolution, and the loss of its ally Hosni Mubarak, Israel has feared for its vital diplomatic partnership with its huge neighbour. The rise to power of the Muslim Brotherhood and its new president, Mohammed Morsi, a man who refuses to mention Israel by name, is what really sends shudders through the minds of Israeli politicians, not Hamas's inaccurate, Iranian-made missiles. 

For now, Mr Morsi faces troubles of his own - his attempts to cut through the morass that is Egypt's new constitutional settlement ended in riots across the country on Friday. 

Perhaps that is why Israel has faced him with his new test now. The praise heaped on Mr Morsi for his brokering of the peace deal obscures the fact he has now taken on a task Mr Mubarak never attempted and Egypt has long sought to avoid - becoming a guarantor of Israel's security by preventing remilitarisation of Gaza. 

Israel's demand, in return for an easing of its long blockade on Gaza, is that Egypt stop further rocket smuggling into Gaza through the Sinai. 

Much now depends on the lifting of the blockade, particularly among a Gazan civilian population already growing restive at Hamas's authoritarian rule.

Technology facilitates joint custody after divorce

NYTimes   MOST divorced couples would probably prefer not to see each other. Ever again. But when you share custody of your children, you have to assume a certain amount of face-to-face time amid the endless back-and-forthing. [...]

Let’s just say that no matter how well ex-spouses and still-parents coordinate, there’s a good chance of teary phone calls, angry exchanges during drop-off, and all-out fights about who’s not saving enough for college, often played out smack in front of the children.

Unless, of course, it’s all done remotely. These days, the cool aloofness of technology is helping temper sticky emotional exchanges between former spouses. And for the most part, according to divorce lawyers and joint-custody bearers, handling the details via high tech is a serious upgrade. [...]

E-mail and texting alone have practically revolutionized postdivorce family relationships. “E-mail absolutely takes away the in-your-face aggravation and emotional side of joint custody,” said Lubov Stark, a divorce lawyer on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. “You just write, ‘I want to pick up Kimmy at 5, but I’m running late and will be there at 6.’ It’s the best thing ever.” [...]

Such arrangements are increasingly necessary. Unlike the “Kramer vs. Kramer” 1970s, when mothers won primary custody almost by default, today’s postdivorce “bi-nuclear family” setups are more egalitarian. Almost all states now offer some kind of joint custody. Joint legal custody, in which parents share or split decision-making, is almost the norm. And while laws vary widely by state, joint physical custody, where children divide their time between their father’s and mother’s homes, is increasingly common.

Israeli Arab arrested as alleged bus bomber

YNet   A man suspected of carrying out the bombing attack on a bus in central Tel Aviv Wednesday was apprehended by Israeli security forces within hours of the attack.The suspected terrorist was apprehended in a joint operation conducted by the Shin Bet, Israel Police and the IDF. Twenty-nine people were injured in the attack.

The Shin Bet said Thursday that the terrorist, an Israeli citizen who previously lived in the West Bank and was allowed to settle in Tayibe under the family reunification law, was recruited by a terror cell from the village of Beit Liqya, near Ramallah.

According to the Shin Bet, the suspect planted the bomb on the bus and then called the terror cell's commander in Beit Liqya, who then activated the device via mobile phone. More arrests are expected.

 During their interrogation the terror cell members, who are affiliated with Hamas and Islamic Jihad, admitted to preparing the explosive device and selecting Tel Aviv as the target. They purchased cell phones that were later used to detonate the device by remote control. A gag order has been issued over the suspects' identities.

Israel dominates the new Middle East

Washington Post   by Fareed Zakaria    In a thorough 2010 study, “The Arab-Israeli Military Balance,” Anthony Cordesman and Aram Nerguizian document how over the past decade Israel has outstripped its neighbors in every dimension of warfare. The authors attribute this to Israel’s “combination of national expenditures, massive external funding, national industrial capacity and effective strategy and force planning.” Israel’s military expenditures in 2009 were about $10 billion, which is three times Egypt’s military spending and larger than the combined defense expenditures of all its neighbors — Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. (This advantage is helped by the fact that Israel receives $3 billion in military assistance from Washington.)

But money doesn’t begin to describe Israel’s real advantages, which are in the quality and effectiveness of its military, in terms of both weapons and people. Despite being dwarfed by the Arab population, Israel’s army plus its high-quality reservists vastly outnumber those of the Arab nations. Its weapons are far more sophisticated, often a generation ahead of those used by its adversaries. Israel’s technology advantage has profound implications on the modern battlefield. [...]

These are the realities of the Middle East today. Israel’s astonishing economic growth, its technological prowess, its military preparedness and its tight relationship with the United States have set it a league apart from its Arab adversaries. Peace between the Palestinians and Israelis will come only when Israel decides that it wants to make peace. Wise Israeli politicians, from Ariel Sharon to Ehud Olmert to Ehud Barak, have wanted to take risks to make that peace because they have worried about Israel’s future as a Jewish and democratic state. This is what is in danger, not Israel’s existence.

Terror attack: Tel Aviv bus blown up - 16 wounded

Times of Israel   A bus in central Tel Aviv was blown up in a terror attack at around noon on Wednesday — the first bombing attack in the city since April 2006. At least 16 people were injured in the bombing, three of them in serious condition.

Hamas claimed responsibility for the blast, according to reports from Gaza, and celebratory gunfire was heard in the Strip as the bombing was reported on the radio.