Interruption of moderation warning: Will be in New York for next two weeks

I will be going to New York tomorrow for two weeks. Since Internet availability will be irregular my moderation might take longer than usual - particularly tomorrow.while I am travelling.

Kaminetsky-Greenblatt Heter: Rav Hillel David confirms that the Feinstein Beis Din was convened solely at the request and for the benefit of Rav Shmuel Kaminetsky - and not for any other reason

My brother just spoke Sunday night with Rav Hillel David regarding the Feinstein Beis Din and its ruling. My brother said I could write about what he told me was said - and added that it was important to note that Rav Hillel David was very open with him and very polite and respectful. 

Rav Hillel David was asked why after over a month of deliberations - no psak has been released to the public. He answered unambiguously that Rav Shmuel Kaminetsky had requested the ruling of the beis din regarding the Heter and that he was the sole person of concern. That what had been decided was not the business of the public. Therefore the psak was conveyed only to Rav Shmuel and his son.

My brother noted that the issue of the validity of the heter was in fact of public concern as are the associated issues as to whether Tamar is committing adultery and her future children will be mamzerim as many great poskim have already said.

Rav Hillel David repeated that the beis din was concerned only with the question that Rav Kaminetsky had raised as to whether they considered the heter valid. The beis din did in fact answer Rav Kaminetsky's question - and did not address the other issues. Because the mandate of the beis din was limited to Rav Kaminetsky's question - they did not deal with whether Tamar was an adulteress or whether she needed to separate from her husband. It was simply not their job. 

In short Rav Hillel David provided crushing confirmation of the worst conjectures concerning the Feinstein Beis Din. It showed an absolute lack of interest of the most pressing issues that this heter has raised regarding rabbinic corruption and the validity of annulling marriages. Thus instead of bringing closure to this scandal - it merely served as a ladder for Rav Shmuel Kaminetsky and his son to distance themselves from the heter. We thus have 3 major talmidei chachomim who failed to address the real needs of the Jewish people at this time. By ignoring the full ramifications of this scandal they have ended up participating in the cover up to just show that Rav Shmuel Kaminetsky is a tzadik who listens to Rav Dovid Feinstein. 

It seems that the Aguda has heaved a sigh of relief and feels that the issues have been properly resolved behind closed doors - and that it is time to forget and get on with life. 

But that is sheker and the matter has not been resolved nor will it be forgotten. This is a shameful episode that gets worse by the day. By Rav Dovid Feinstein's participating in this cover up, the Feinstein name has been besmirched

Learning a Mishna a day with your son

   Yeshuat Yaakov

Problem with Disqus: Comments are not showing on the Blog after moderation

 update: Just received the following information from Disqus which seems to have solved the problem

This is occurring because Blogger recently began using unique, country-specific URLs depending on the geolocation of the user visiting the page.
As Disqus is designed for a different thread to be created on each unique URL, this is causing new, 0 comment threads to be created when the page is accessed from any country where the site will not end in “.com”
To prevent this Blogger change from affecting your site, please follow the instructions here to prevent Blogger from creating new country-specific URLs for the pages of your site: http://www.labnol.org/internet/prevent-blogger-country-redirection/21031/

Have a great day!

 ==========================================

I was just informed that no recent comments are being displayed on the Blog. I have approved over 300 comments this week - but they do not appear on the Blog. I just contacted disqus. If the problem doesn't clear up I will drop Disqus and go back to the old system

Rav Avigdor Miller on the Divorce Epidemic

class #646, Mind of Control, 1:23:45

When the great dread day [death] comes, when finally Hashem says you are free, you are absolved, does the neshama feel relief, does the neshama celebrate that it's all over? Oh no. It's the yom hamara, the great and bitter day. Because our happiness in life is the duty of being in control. Ta'avah ni'hiya, when a desire is broken, is repressed, te'erav le-nefesh, [Mishlei 13:10] how sweet it is for the soul.

Disappointments when you accept that in good will, that's a great success for you. Success doesn't mean anything. Anybody can rejoice with success. When a person who keeps his mind calm even in disappointment, that's the person who is gaining shelmaius. And that's why HaKodesh Baruch Hu created us.

Life is full of disappointments. It's full of joys. If there are joys and successes we have to celebrate by thanking Hashem. Certainly we should [also] be grateful and express our gratitude for all the difficulties of life.

Here's a woman who had seven children with her husband. Then she put her eyes on a strange man. And she fell in love with a strange man. This mishugenah woman decides that she's unhappy with her husband. Now later she gets over this infatuation with this strange man. He goes away and moves out of the neighborhood. Now she's disillusioned with her husband. A woman with seven children. She lived like a Jewish woman until now.

But she has deep down in her heart gentile attitudes, attitudes maybe there's such a thing as romance yet in life. That's a gentile attitude. And she feels unhappy. And the husband is a hum drum husband, an ordinary decent Jewish husband. Maybe a handsome man too. But still you're accustomed to him already. He's too accustomed to be romantic anymore. And so she starts becoming dissatisfied. You know what she's doing? She's ruining her neshama.

Of course she's not going to commit adultery. She's going to force him to give her a get. She's going to break away from him and she'll look for somebody else to marry. She'll be disappointed. No question. The second time will be worse than the first time. No question.

But the breaking away, that's a corruption of the soul. Your perfection is to take what Hashem gave you (.... ) Cling to Hashem all the days of your life. V'dovak b'ishto. Control yourself. Squelch the imaginary romances that you think are waiting for you in life. It's all false. Make up your mind that what you have is what's good for you and people who live that way into their old age. No romance. Just live dutifully, live loyally, loyal to Hashem Who gave this to you. And don't be a nirgon, don't complain.

How long is life after all? The great day will come when you will finally be relieved then you'll say, ah now I look back and see how fortunate I was, I was loyal to my husband all these years. I didn't complain. I bore my burden dutifully as a bas Yisroel what HaKodesh Baruch Hu wanted me to do.

[1:27:36] Unfortunately today there's a rash of divorces and in most cases it's Jewish women.  Even the frum Jewish women are demanding divorces from their husbands, all over, everywhere. It's an epidemic and a tragedy of tragedies. They are ruining their lives, but most of all they are ruining their neshamas.

People are not willing to make peace with their circumstances. Say I'm going to live the best I can with the circumstances that Hashem gave me. These are the people who are going to succeed and they are achieving what's called shlaimus of parishas haratzon. They are conquering their passions. They are ruling with their minds over their emotions. And that is the greatest perfection.

See if you can do it with yiras shemayim, with fear of Hashem, very good. Even if not, any which way you succeed in living dutifully and accepting what Hashem gave you, you are successful and you live your life with a grand purpose.

Purim; Ester- The Daughter Of A Military General?! by Rabbi Shlomo Pollak

 guest post by Rabbi Shlomo Pollak

Historians have long struggled to identify Ester Hamalkah- Queen Ester...

Assuming Achashveirosh is in fact Xerxes, the forth known major Persian king, historians relate his queen to be Amestris- the daughter of a MILITARY COMMANDER, and not the daughter of Mordechai- a member of Sanhedrin....

The options that have been proposed thus far, are:

1. Amestris refers to Vashti

2. Ester was only a lesser wife

3. Historians got it all wrong

We suggest that Ester WAS the daughter of a military commander....

For questions or comments, please email us at salmahshleima@gmail.com

https://youtu.be/

Unprecedented: Father jailed for son refusing to divorce wife

Update: Supreme Court delays jailing father
ynet

בג"ץ עיכב את כניסתו לכלא של אבי סרבן הגט

לאחר שבית הדין הרבני קבע בצעד תקדימי, כי יש לאסור אב של סרבן גט בשל סיוע לסרבנות - החליטה שופטת העליון על עיכוב ביצוע ההחלטה, עד להכרעה בבג"ץ

 


update from srugim

Arutz 7

Tel Aviv rabbinical court finds father encouraged son to leave disabled wife without religious divorce, sentences him to 30 days in jail.

For the first time in history, an Israeli rabbinical court has sentenced a man to prison because his son will not grant his wife a divorce.

The court ordered that a Jewish-American tycoon be sent to jail for 30 days in jail after his son refused to give his wife a get. According to Jewish religious law, a husband must give his wife a document known as a get in order for the couple to be divorced. A woman whose husband refuses to do so is called an aguna [plural agunot, literally "chained woman"].

The ruling came after it was found that the father has discouraged his son from granting his wife a get for the past ten years. The head of the Tel Aviv rabbinical courts, Rabbi Shlomo Shatsman, stated that "The complainant's extended and brutal divorce case is one of the hardest agunot cases the rabbinical court system has had to deal with."

The court heard the story of a haredi couple who married 19 years ago and lived in the US, where their two children were born. About 10 years ago, the family visited Israel. During their trip, the wife suffered a severe stroke. She was left disabled and remains confined to a wheelchair.

After the stroke, the husband abandoned his wife and children in Israel and returned to the US. Since then, he has refused to grant her a divorce. He has ignored the Tel Aviv rabbinical court's ruling that he must grant her a get, and did not even bother to file an appeal.

The court tried to uncover the husband's perplexing motives. The court's aguna branch carried out a secret investigation in Israel and the US, and found that his father, a rich businessman known for his philanthropy in the haredi sector, is behind the refusal. When the husband's parents visited Israel, the court summoned them to testify and even issued a restraining order preventing them from leaving the country until they do so. This alone was an unprecedented decision. The parents, however, had rabbis and public figures apply strong pressure to the court in an attempt to obstruct justice. [...]
 =============================================update=====
srugim

מאסר לאביו של סרבן הגט, איך זה בכלל חוקי?

במבט ראשון אכן נראית דרישה זאת כלא צודקת וכלא הוגנת, אולם במבט בוחן ומעמיק יותר, ניתן להיווכח כי דווקא זוהי דרך הישר וזו התוצאה המוסרית והצודקת. עו"ד מוריה דיין המייצגת את העגונה מסבירה

פסק דין תקדימי פורסם השבוע בפרשת עיגון חמורה, אשר בה יוצגה האישה על ידי ארגון "יד לאישה", לפיו אבי הבעל ייעצר בגין סרבנותו של בנו לתת גט. נשאלת השאלה – האם יש בכך צדק? הלא אנו אמונים על העיקרון לפיו "לא יומתו אבות על בנים ובנים לא יומתו על אבות, איש בחטאו יומת" (דברים כ"ג ט"ז). כיצד, אם כך, מצאנו לנכון לבקש מבית הדין להעניש אב על חטאי בנו?

במבט ראשון אכן נראית דרישה זאת כלא צודקת וכלא הוגנת, אולם במבט בוחן ומעמיק יותר, ניתן להיווכח כי דווקא זוהי דרך הישר וזו התוצאה המוסרית והצודקת.

כאמור, פרשה עגומה זו החלה לפני למעלה מעשור ובמרכזה ניצבת אישה אומללה אשר במהלך ביקור משפחתי בישראל עברה אירוע מוחי חמור אשר עקבותיו נותרו בה עד היום. אישה זו, אשר נותרה נכה במחצית גופה לצמיתות, ננטשה ע"י בעלה שחזר לארה"ב מיד לאחר שהאירוע התרחש וזאת בעצת אביו, לאחר שהובהרה לו חומרת מצבה של האישה. מאז ועד היום מעגן הבעל את האישה, בחסות אביו ובאופן אכזרי, וזאת ללא כל סיבה נראית לעין.

במהלך העדויות שהושמעו בבית הדין עלה כי לא רק שהאב הוא בגדר "מסייע" בעיגון האישה, אלא אט אט התברר כי הוא הוא בעל הדבר עצמו. אבי הבעל הוא המושך בחוטים, הוא המתנה את התנאים, הוא הקובע את הכללים, והוא אשר ברצותו תעוגן האישה וברצותו תשוחרר.

בית הדין עשה שימוש בסמכויות המוקנות לו בחוק, שעניינן אכיפה וציות לפסקי דין שניתנו כדין ע"י ערכאות שיפוטיות במדינת ישראל. מאחר וכנגד הבעל ניתן פסק דין המחייב אותו לתת גט והתברר כי אביו הוא הגורם המכריע באי קיומו של פסק הדין, לפיכך ניתן להטיל עליו סנקציות מכוח פקודת ביזיון בית משפט.

אולם, מהי המסגרת ההלכתית והמוסרית אשר בתוכה פעלנו אנו כמייצגי האישה ובגדרה ניתן פסק הדין? הנה מצינו בפירוש הרמב"ם על המשנה (תרומות ו, ג) לגבי המסייע לדבר עבירה כי הוא בכלל "לפני עיוור לא תיתן מכשול", וז"ל שם: "והמתעהו והמביא אותו לידי מכשול, או שציווהו על העבירה, או שסייעו עליה באיזה סיוע שהוא.. עובר הוא על מה שאמר ה' 'ולפני עור לא תתן מכשול' אם גרם לעבירה, או שעובר על דבר ה' 'אל תשת ידך עם רשע' אם סייע לחוטא". במקרה זה אבי הבעל, הגורם לעיגון האישה, הוא בבחינת "לפני עיור לא תיתן מכשול" ועובר על איסור חמור.

 

Israeli Man Accused of Raping Stepdaughter for 15 Years, Siring Boy

Haaretz

Ashkelon Magistrate’s Court extended the remand of an ultra-Orthodox couple from Ashdod on Monday after they were arrested the day before on suspicion that the father raped his stepdaughter for 15 years, leading to the birth of a son.

A gag order has been imposed on the case, so names and details cannot be disclosed. However, the father confirmed that the son was the couple’s biological offspring, but said relations with his stepdaughter had been consensual and had taken place when she was an adult. 

The plaintiff, now 31, filed a complaint with Ashdod police last Thursday, saying she had been raped by her stepfather for 15 years, starting when she was 11. She claimed that her biological mother, who is married to her stepfather, knew of the sexual abuse and rape but did nothing to prevent it.

The plaintiff is now raising an 8-year-old boy and the police are preparing to conduct paternity tests in order to verify her claims. A police source told Haaretz that preliminary investigations show there is a factual basis to the complaint. He added that the parents had become Orthodox in recent years. [...]

Fulfilling the mitzva of Megila with a wandering mind by by Rabbi Benzion Halberstam of Lakewood

I received this letter today

There are lots of Rabbanim today who tell their people that you can't be yotze Megilla with just hearing it in Shul because your mind naturally gets preoccupied with stray thoughts so they require various complicated ways in order to be yotze and they say that otherwise you aren't yotze. In response to this, a Rav in Lakewood wrote a teshuva saying that this isn't true and that even if the person's mind thinks about other things during Krias Hamegilla he is yotze. This teshuva was put out on tables in some shuls this Shabbos and it seems very convincing.

   Megilla

Reinstating the Old Fashioned Torah Part 3 by Joe Orlow

Part 3

Jack Benny z"l was a comedian. Part of his routine was being notoriously stingy. When confronted on his radio show by an actor playing a thief, he finds himself in a quandary:

----

Thief: Your money or your life!

(silence)

Thief: Well....?!

Jack Benny [finally] : I'm thinking, I'm thinking.

-----

Besides nicely illustrating the Torah concept that some value their belongings more than their life, this brings us to the topic of how to teach thinking.

The short answer is you can't, at least not directly. But indirectly we can. External stimuli can lead to introspection. "Ashrai Ha'Ish Asher T'yas'renu Kah". From torment and affliction comes intense delving into the Torah to find answers.

We cry and bemoan the public and vicious breakup of Jewish families in the Torah World. We are in shock and pain as we become aware of Torah World Rabbis permitting Mamzerim to be born rather than risk losing financial support and the loss of personal honor.

We will dip our pens in tears mixed with ashes and begin to write a new future for the Torah.

--------------------

Pseudo-Gadolim

A Torah life is built on obedience to authority. Children obey parents. Students obey teachers. Community members obey the Torah leaders in their town. Local Torah leaders obey national leaders.

A local Torah leader can be the Rabbi of a Shul; a Rosh Yeshiva; a Dayan on a Bais Din; or a Torah scholar without a community position who people turn to for advice.

Parents and teachers are only to be obeyed if they follow the Torah. A child is not obligated to follow an order from a parent demanding that the child transgress the Torah.

Furthermore, the Torah directs each person to select a Rav to follow. The terminology is "Aseh L'cha Rav", "make for yourself a Rav". That is, a Rav cannot come and demand obedience from someone unless that person chose to submit to him. There are exceptions, however.

When the S'micha from Moshe Rabeinu was still given, a Rav could subpoena someone to appear in his court.

And historically, when Jews lived in all-Jewish communities, a person could come under the jurisdiction of a Rav without choosing him. A Rav selected by the community at large had to be obeyed even by those who may oppose him. The seven Tuvai Ha'Ir, even if they were not Rabbis, had to be obeyed. But even there, people had a choice. Someone could leave the city or region and move elsewhere.

If a Rabbi in America is a true scholar and his peers recognize his scholarship and defer to his decisions, he can become a Gadol, or even Gadol Hador, "The Great One of the Generation"; or perhaps a title limiting his authority to a region is conferred on him, such as, "The Greatest Gadol in America". Under those circumstances, the Gadol can require obedience.

Yet, curiously, some Rabbis claim that all Jews in America must submit to them without these Rabbis having properly earned the title. They assume the title of "Gadol", a "Great One", by dint of a family name, or having a prominent position in an established Yeshiva, by having studied under a true Gadol, or because many people bring them their questions or come to their Shiurim; or simply because they sit on the Eastern wall of the dais at a convention. Still, the scholarship of these men may be lacking and thus they are without the respect of true scholars and are pseudo-Gadolim.

Aa long as pseudo-Gadolim work within the confines of those places where their supporters treat them as a Gadol, their impact on others outside their followers is limited.

But when a pseudo-Gadol overreaches and makes decisions that affect people who disdain him for his sloppy scholarship, the stage is set for a showdown between individuals and the pseudo-Gadol. A free-for-all can ensue.

Those who consider the pseudo-Gadol as a fraud, a Rasha, and maybe even an Apikoros, begin publicly airing the flaws of the pseudo-Gadol. Meanwhile, the pseudo-Gadol's followers hit back and begin demanding respect for the man.

Each side demands to be left alone.

But in truth, the pseudo-Gadol has only himself to blame. He bought into all the hype. He exposed his own vulnerability by going into battle without arming himself with sources and proofs from the Mesorah.

Pronouncements from on high don't fly in the old fashioned Torah world. And a sure sign someone is a phony Gadol is when he clams up or begins double-talking, saying one thing to one person and another thing to another, or contradicting himself.

So don't berate me for jumping in and piling it on when a pseudo-Gadol raises his hand against one of my friends. Don't tell me to let the Gadolim handle it and that I should stay out and just watch from the sidelines.

Rather, let those who criticize me ask themselves why their vocal "Gadol" all of a sudden is scrambling to rise above the fray, when it was he who threw the first punch? Why is he refusing to discuss the issue at hand openly and honestly? I'll take a stab at answering that question: Because the pseudo-Gadol is used to being obeyed unquestioningly, and when someone catches him playing fast and loose with the rules, he freezes like a deer caught in the headlights.

As for me, to do nothing when I discern the Torah being abused eats away at my soul. For self preservation I am compelled not to stand idly by.

Vayikrah; Squirt The Blood Or Squeeze It? by Rabbi Shlomo Pollak

Guest Post by Rabbi Shlomo Pollak

The Torah tells the Kohein to do מיצוי הדם - Squeeze the blood- on both עלות העוף and חטאת העוף.

How should the blood be squeezed out? By squeezing the bird, and the blood squirting out? Or by squeezing the bird against the Mizbeach, and blood trickling down?

Rashi in Zevochim 64b, explains that it's done by squeezing the bird against the Mizbeach, and in Minachos 2b Rashi says it's done by squirting!?!.....

For questions or comments please email salmahshleima@gmail.com

https://youtu.be/xkooZPhvXBA