Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Bloggers sued in Israel by Tel Aviv municiplaity and social workers for Incitement and Libel

Haaretz  The Tel Aviv municipality and a group of social workers are suing media giants Facebook and Google, and two bloggers who persistently criticize the judicial system and welfare authorities, alleging that they are guilty of libel, incitement and invasion of privacy.

In the suit, filed in Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court by the municipality and eight social workers against Facebook, Google, blogging website WordPress and bloggers Lory Shem-Tov and Moti Leybel, the plaintiffs asked the court to order the defendants to “stop the publication of libel, sexual harassment, violations of privacy and more” that target the plaintiffs.

They also want the companies to remove “all the website and/or Facebook profiles that are besmirching the plaintiffs.”

Shem-Tov and Leybel are well known for their online campaigns against social workers and welfare agencies who remove children from homes. In their blogs and on their Facebook pages, they sharply criticize judges and social workers by name, and their posts often use crude language against their targets.

The suit cites instances in which the websites refer to social workers as mentally ill, sluts, “the face of pure evil,” and more.

Every website and/or Facebook profile they operate gets wide exposure on the internet, such that the harm to the social workers grows every day,” the Tel Aviv municipality said in a statement. “Every time one of the employees’ names is typed into Google’s search engine, the surfer is exposed to abominable and hateful words.”

The suit challenges the claim by Shem-Tov and Leybel that they are journalists. “Defendants 7 and 8 [Shem-Tov and Leybel] see themselves as journalists, but their stories use malicious expressions that are sexual, abusive and crudely attack their rivals and the families of their rivals,” the suit states.[...]

Leybel told Haaretz that the suits against him were baseless and false.

"As of late, a number of different people, including lawyers and social workers, have begun undertaking actst of 'cast thy bread upon the waters,' filing baseless and hopeless lawsuits. In these suits, they blame me for advertisements on websites that I have no connection with, and written in a tone that I never thought I would be accused of using," he said.

"For example, there have been recent reports of one such suit for half a million shekel by lawyer Hava Klein against me, she and her lawyer immediately ran to the press to publish reports that she had won half a million shekels from me, but after less than a month the ruling was nullified and of course no one was interested [to report it].

"After reviewing all off the suit's articles, it became clear that once again people are suing me for things published in websites I have no connection with, and, according to the information I have, the suit is rife with lies to the court and in trial they will be proven as such. A libel suit will be filed in response to end this saga," he added.

Kaminetsky-Greenblatt Heter: Esav asked about maaser on salt - and also wasn't concerned about adultery

yeshiva world news reported a story found  Kikar HaShabbat

===================================
While Learning about Nazir last week in Cheder, two 12-year-old children almost Bar Mitzvah apparently found it fascinating, and declared to the class that they’re becoming a Nazir!

Some of the stringencies of a Nazir include not being allowed to drink grape juice, cutting your hair, or going into a Bais Hakvaros.

Though they reportedly announced it was just for a minute or a day, the minimum length of time for Nezires is 30 days, thus putting them in a sticky situation because their declaration came just before their Bar Mitzvah.

The Rebbe decided to ask a Shaila, and approached one of the Lakewood Poskim. The Posek took the matter very seriously, and took the Shaila to the Philadelphia Rosh Yeshivah Reb Shmuel Kaminetzky Shlita.

On behalf of TLS, a Talmid of Reb Shmuel Kaminetzky Shlita inquired from the Rosh Yeshivah as to the accuracy of the incident, and the Rosh Yeshivah confirmed it was indeed the case, and the Shaila was brought before him.

“The Rosh Yeshivah said that he had Paskened that the children should keep the Dinim of Nezires, and that the children would have to go to a Rav to be Matir Neder. However, the Rosh Yeshivah said the children should only go after Shabbos, so they have time to reflect on the seriousness of a simple declaration.”

Monday, July 11, 2016

The Clinton Contamination by Maureen Dowd

NY Times    IT says a lot about our relationship with Hillary Clinton that she seems well on her way to becoming Madam President because she’s not getting indicted.

If she were still at the State Department, she could be getting fired for being, as the F.B.I. director told Congress, “extremely careless” with top-secret information. Instead, she’s on a glide path to a big promotion.

And that’s the corkscrew way things go with the Clintons, who are staying true to their reputation as the Tom and Daisy Buchanan of American politics. Their vast carelessness drags down everyone around them, but they persevere, and even thrive.

In a mere 11 days, arrogant, selfish actions by the Clintons contaminated three of the purest brands in Washington — Barack Obama, James Comey and Loretta Lynch — and jeopardized the futures of Hillary’s most loyal aides.

It’s quaint, looking back at her appointment as secretary of state, how Obama tried to get Hillary without the shadiness. (Which is what we all want, of course.)

The president and his aides attempted to keep a rein on Clinton’s State Department — refusing to let her bring in her hit man, Sidney Blumenthal.

But in the end, Hillary’s goo got on Obama anyhow. On Tuesday, after Comey managed to make both Democrats and Republicans angry by indicting Clinton politically but not legally, Barry and Hillary flew to Charlotte, N.C., for their first joint campaign appearance.

Obama was left in the awkward position of vouching for Hillary’s “steady judgment” to run an angry, violent, jittery nation on the very day that his F.B.I. director lambasted her errant judgment on circumventing the State Department email system, making it clear that she had been lying to the American public for the last 16 months.

Comey, who was then yanked up to Capitol Hill for a hearing on Thursday, revealed that instead of no emails with classified information, as Hillary had insisted, there were 110, of those turned over to the State Department. Instead of Clinton’s assurances that the server in the basement in Chappaqua had never been breached, Comey said it was possible that hostile actors had hacked Clinton’s email account. Among the emails not given to State, he said at least three contained classified information.

Hillary had already compromised the president, who feels he needs her to cement his legacy. Obama angered F.B.I. agents when he was interviewed on CBS’s “60 Minutes” last fall and undermined the bureau’s investigation by exonerating Hillary before the F.B.I. was done with its work, saying pre-emptively, “This is not a situation in which America’s national security was endangered.” [...]

After Bill Clinton crossed the tarmac in Phoenix to have a long chat with Lynch, the attorney general confessed that the ill-advised meeting had “cast a shadow” over her department’s investigation into his wife and that she would feel constrained to follow the recommendation of the F.B.I.

“I certainly wouldn’t do it again,” Lynch said, admitting it hit her “painfully” that she had made a mistake dancing with the Arkansas devil in the pale moonlight.

The meeting seemed even more suspect a week later, when The Times reported that Hillary might let Lynch stay on in a new Clinton administration.[...]

“You’ve got a situation here where the woman who would be in charge of setting national security policy as president has been deemed by the F.B.I. unsuitable to safeguard and handle classified information,” Bill Savarino, a Washington lawyer specializing in security clearances, told the Times.[...]

Comey’s verdict that Hillary was “negligent” was met with sighs rather than shock. We know who Hillary and Bill are now. We’ve been held hostage to their predilections and braided intrigues for a long time. (On the Hill, Comey refused to confirm or deny that he’s investigating the Clinton Foundation, with its unseemly tangle of donors and people doing business with State.)

We’re resigned to the Clintons focusing on their viability and disregarding the consequences of their heedless actions on others. They’re always offering a Faustian deal. This year’s election bargain: Put up with our iniquities or get Trump’s short fingers on the nuclear button.

The Clintons work hard but don’t play by the rules. Imagine them in the White House with the benefit of low expectations.

A Saudi Morals Enforcer Called for a More Liberal Islam. Then the Death Threats Began.


For most of his adult life, Ahmed Qassim al-Ghamdi worked among the bearded enforcers of Saudi Arabia. He was a dedicated employee of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice — known abroad as the religious police — serving with the front-line troops protecting the Islamic kingdom from Westernization, secularism and anything but the most conservative Islamic practices.

Some of that resembled ordinary police work: busting drug dealers and bootleggers in a country that bans alcohol. But the men of “the Commission,” as Saudis call it, spent most of their time maintaining the puritanical public norms that set Saudi Arabia apart not only from the West, but from most of the Muslim world.

A key offense was ikhtilat, or unauthorized mixing between men and women. The kingdom’s clerics warn that it could lead to fornication, adultery, broken homes, children born of unmarried couples and full-blown societal collapse.

For years, Mr. Ghamdi stuck with the program and was eventually put in charge of the Commission for the region of Mecca, Islam’s holiest city. Then he had a reckoning and began to question the rules. So he turned to the Quran and the stories of the Prophet Muhammad and his companions, considered the exemplars of Islamic conduct. What he found was striking and life altering: There had been plenty of mixing among the first generation of Muslims, and no one had seemed to mind.

So he spoke out. In articles and television appearances, he argued that much of what Saudis practiced as religion was in fact Arabian cultural practices that had been mixed up with their faith.

There was no need to close shops for prayer, he said, nor to bar women from driving, as Saudi Arabia does. At the time of the Prophet, women rode around on camels, which he said was far more provocative than veiled women piloting S.U.V.s.

He even said women had to cover only their faces if they chose to. And to demonstrate the depth of his own conviction, Mr. Ghamdi went on television with his wife, Jawahir, who smiled to the camera, her face bare and adorned with a dusting of makeup.

It was like a bomb inside the kingdom’s religious establishment, threatening the social order that granted prominence to the sheikhs and made them the arbiters of right and wrong in all aspects of life. He threatened their control.

Mr. Ghamdi’s colleagues at work refused to speak to him. Angry calls poured into his cellphone and anonymous death threats hit him on Twitter. Prominent sheikhs took to the airwaves to denounce him as an ignorant upstart who should be punished, tried — and even tortured. [...]

The primacy of Islam in Saudi life has led to a huge religious sphere that extends beyond the state’s official clerics. Public life is filled with celebrity sheikhs whose moves, comments and conflicts Saudis track just as Americans follow Hollywood actors. There are old sheikhs and young sheikhs, sheikhs who used to be extremists and now preach tolerance, sheikhs whom women find sexy, and a black sheikh who has compared himself to Barack Obama.

In the kingdom’s hyper-wired society, they compete for followers on Twitter, Facebook and Snapchat. The grand mufti, the state’s highest religious official, has a regular television show, too.

Their embrace of technology runs counter to the history of Wahhabi clerics rejecting nearly everything new as a threat to the religion. Formerly banned items include the telegraph, the radio, the camera, soccer, girls’ education and televisions, whose introduction in the 1960s caused outrage.[...]

For Saudis, trying to navigate what is permitted, halal, and what is not, haram, can be challenging. So they turn to clerics for fatwas, or nonbinding religious rulings. While some may get a lot of attention — as when Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran called for killing the author Salman Rushdie — most concern the details of religious practice. Others can reveal the sometimes comical contortions that clerics go through to reconcile modernity with their understanding of religion.

There was, for example, the cleric who appeared to call for the death of Mickey Mouse, then tried to backtrack. Another prominent cleric issued a clarification that he had not in fact forbidden all-you-can-eat buffets. That same sheikh was recently asked about people taking photos with cats. He responded that the feline presence was irrelevant; the photos were the problem.

“Photography is not permitted unless necessary,” he said. “Not with cats, not with dogs, not with wolves, not with anything.”

The government has sought to control the flow of religious opinions with official fatwa institutions. But state-sanctioned fatwas have provoked laughter, too, like the fatwa calling spending money on Pokemon products “cooperation in sin and transgression.”

While the government seeks to get more women into the work force, the state fatwa organization preaches on the “danger of women joining men in the workplace,” which it calls “the reason behind the destruction of societies.”

And there are fatwas that arm extremists with religious justification. There is one fatwa, still available in English on a government website and signed by the previous grand mufti, that states, “Whoever refuses to follow the straight path deserves to be killed or enslaved in order to establish justice, maintain security and peace and safeguard lives, honor and property.”

It goes on: “Slavery in Islam is like a purifying machine or sauna in which those who are captured enter to wash off their dirt and then they come out clean, pure and safe, from another door.” [...]

The problem, he said, is that tolerance for opposing views is not taught in Saudi society.

“Either follow what I say or I will classify you, I will hurt you, I will push you out of the discussion,” he said. “This is anti-Islam. We have many people thinking in different ways. You can fight, but you have to live under the same roof.”

His wife had no problem with mixing or with women working, but did not like that Mr. Ghamdi had caused a scandal by making his views public. The royal family sets the rules, and it was inappropriate for subjects to publicly campaign for changes, she said.

“He has to follow the ruler,” she said. “If everyone just comes out with his own opinion, we’ll be in chaos.”[...]

The first irony of Mr. Ghamdi’s situation is that many Saudis, including members of the royal family and even important clerics, agree with him, although mostly in private. And public mixing of the sexes in some places — hospitals, conferences and in Mecca during the pilgrimage — is common. In some Saudi cities it is not uncommon to see women’s faces, or even their hair.

But there is a split in society between the conservatives who want to maintain what they consider the kingdom’s pure Islamic identity and the liberals (in the Saudi context) who want more personal freedoms. Liberals make cases like Mr. Ghamdi’s all the time. But sheikhs don’t, which is why he was branded a traitor.

The second irony is that this year, Saudi Arabia instituted some of the reform Mr. Ghamdi had called for.

It had been a rough year for the Commission. A video went viral of a girl yelping as she was thrown to the ground outside a Riyadh mall during a confrontation with the Commission, her abaya flying over her head and exposing her legs and torso. For many Saudis, “the Nakheel Mall girl” symbolized the Commission’s overreach.

Then the Commission arrested Ali al-Oleyani, a popular talk show host who often criticized religious figures. Photos appeared online of Mr. Oleyani in handcuffs with bottles of liquor. The photos were clearly staged and apparently had been leaked as a form of character assassination. Many people were outraged.

In April, the government responded with a surprise decree defanging the religious police. It denied them the power to arrest, question or pursue subjects, forced them to work with the police and advised them to be “gentle and kind” in their interactions with citizens. [...]

Sunday, July 10, 2016

Esti Weinstein: Her mother writes an emotional goodbye












Our dearest Esti,

I miss you every day, every hour and every minute. It's not natural for parents to bury their daughter, and it's hard. Very hard. We didn't know you were suffering so much. You would always call to tell us how happy you are and how good things are, because you put honoring your parents above all and you didn't want to cause us any pain. That's why we never thought to take steps and find the things that would help you stay with us. When you decided to leave the fold of religious observance we hoped a day would come that you'd come back. We prayed to live to see you as you were.

We just concluded the week of mourning. Hundreds of men and women came to our house to comfort us, and they told us such amazing stories. Stories about a lovely woman. With your heart of gold, you spent all your days giving to others. To my great anguish, we didn't merit having you stay with us.

Your departure caused a storm in the land, we paid the highest price. Hopefully it will help people understand each other better.

You once said that you were our right hand. Every day, every hour, not a week went by when you didn't call and say: "Mom and Dad, come to our house for a meal." When you heard one of us wasn't feeling well, you were there in a minute. You constantly sought what was good for us. Your love for us, and ours for you, cannot be expressed in words.

I write to you with a broken heart. I can't believe you're not here with us. You were a beautiful and wise woman, a woman of kindness and empathy. You built a wonderful family and were a dedicated mother who raised her children in the most positive manner possible. I promise you that we'll be a mother and father to your Tammy and take her son into our hearts just as you asked, and we'll always keep the hope that one day they too will return to our path.

Love,

Mother

R Berland says that his son-in-law's sefer - written to defend him - should be burned

BCHOL

הרב ברלנד נגד חתנו: "לשרוף את הספרים ולאבדם מהעולם"



פרסום ראשון ב'בחדרי חרדים': בעקבות הוצאת ספר בנושא אמונת חכמים על ידי חתנו של הרב ברלנד, בו הוא מסביר כי "מה שאצלנו נחשב עבירה אצל הצדיק זו מצווה".
יוצא מנהיג 'שובו בנים' בחריפות רבה נגד הספר וקורא לשרוף אותו


בשבוע שעבר דיווחנו בבחדרי חרדים כי לאחרונה הוציא חתנו של מנהיג קהילת 'שובו בנים', הגאון רבי אליעזר ברלנד - הרב יהודה גולדבלום, ספר בשם "אמונת חכמים כהלכתה" בו הוא מבאר מהי אמונת חכמים אמיתית. ובין היתר נכתב בספר: "מה שאצלנו נחשב עבירה אצל הצדיק זו מצווה". רבנים שבפניהם הובא הספר סירבו להעניק לו הסכמה, וחלק מהם אף יצאו נגדו.

בספר נשאל חתנו של הרב ברלנד לגבי ספקות באמונת חכמים. כך למשל נשאל הרב: "האם יש איזה מידה וגבול כמה קושיות מותר שיהיה על הצדיק (שמכאן ואילך צריך לומר שאינו צדיק ח"ו)?"

בתשובה ענה הרב: "כל העניין הוא שצדיקים יודעים ורואים ומבינים דברים שהם למעלה מתפיסתנו, וחיים במציאות אחרת מאתנו, ולכן רצון ה' מאתם שונה מרצון ה' מאתנו. ומה שאצלנו הוא עבירה הנעשית מתוך כוונה רעה, אצלם הוא מצווה וחובה הנעשית מתוך כוונה זכה וטהורה אך ורק למען רצון ה'".

כעת, חושף 'בחדרי חרדים' כי הרב אליעזר ברלנד עצמו יוצא נגד הספר בצורה חריפה ביותר וכותב "יש לשרפם ולאבדם מן העולם כהרף עין".

במכתב שכתב בנושא, פוסק הרב ברלנד: "בס"ד לש"מ י' סיון תשע"ו 776 ביאת משיח = 776. לכל חסידי ברסלב בכל העולם כולו שלום וברכה!

"את הספרים שהוציא הרב י. ג. שליט"א יש לשרפם ולאבדם מן העולם כהרף עין =435 ועי"ז יבוא משיח בן דויד + 1= 435 ואסור להשאיר את הספרים האלה בשום מקום בעולם ואסור שישאר מהם שום זכר ח"ו בזכות רב ינו הקדוש והנורא ובזכות התורה הקדושה והטהורה

"עבדכם הנאמן אליעזר ברלנד".

Saturday, July 9, 2016

Kaminetsky-Greenblatt Heter: Should they name their mamzer son after her father?

After universal condemnation and rejection of the Kaminetsky-Greenblatt "heter" - the couple is still living together. Neither R Greenblatt nor the Kaminetsky's seem to feel it necessary for the couple to separate despite clear consensus that they are committing adultery. 

This raises in interesting question of kibud av. Given that her father was niftar - it seems reasonable that when they have a son that she would name him after her father. The question is whether honoring her father by naming a mamzer after him is truly honoring her father's memory? On the other hand if she doesn't name her son after her father that shows that she acknowledges  that her marriage is not valid according to halacha and she is disgracing his memory by merely remaining in the phony marriage.

A related question is whether Rav Shmuel or Sholem Kaminetsky  or Rav Greenblatt would be the sandek for their son? Is it considered an honor to be a sandek for a mamzer? On the other hand if they refused the "honor" that would mean that they acknowledge that the child is a mamzer that they were responsible for creating. 

For those close to these gedolim, I would appreciate if you asked them these questions. I will publish their answers. If you can get them to explain why they haven't told the couple to separate - even after the Kaminetsky's accepted Rav Dovid Feinstein's psak that the heter is garbage - it would also be appreciated.

Kaminetsky-Greenblatt Heter: Rav Tzadok "defends" their perversions of the Torah

update: I just modified the title of the post because some people were mistakenly taking it literally.
=========================
As noted many times, the Kaminetsky-Greenblatt Heter is a blatant perversion of halacha. In addition it is based on lies. I have also asked many times for someone to defend not only the creation of this phony heter but also the refusal to tell the couple to separate from an adulterous relationship.

However much to my astonishment this Shabbos I was shown a clear justification for their action. Rav Tzadok is talking about a tzadik or gadol and clearly had the Kaminetsky's and Rav Greenblatt in mind when he wrote the following words. [As a side point - this Rav Tzadok was used to justify R Berland's purported sexual perversions by his son-in-law. Rav Tzadok seems to think that a real tzadik can violate any halacha and it is not considered a sin]..
Rav Tzakok HaCohen (Tzedkas HaTzadik #198 page 76): ... David violated the halacha without any justification - but just because he wanted to. And he relied simply on the fact that because he wanted to violate the halacha that this was truly G-d's Will and thus no sin was done in the violation. And this was even though there was absolutely no reason to justify it because Will is not dependent on reasons... 
שהוא עשה שלא כהלכה בלא שום טעם רק מפני שרצה בכך וסמך על מה שהוא רוצה כך הוא אמיתות רצון השם יתברך ואין בו עבירה. ואף על פי שאין בו שום טעם כי אין טעם לרצון

I am not aware of any non-Chassidic writings that state such a thing - so it might be a problem for Litvaks such as the Kaminetsky's and R Greenblatt to rely on this heter. But maybe one of their defenders can send me a non-Chassidic source that gedolim can violate the Torah anytime they want - because it is G-d's Will.

Friday, July 8, 2016

Korach; Does Every Individual Own A Particle In A Karbon Tzibur? by Rabbi Shlomo Pollak

Rav Elchonan Wasermann Hy"d surmised from the Medrash Tanchumah that Rashi brings in Parshas Korach (17;15), that every single person owns his own specific particle in a Karbon Tzibur, and in anything owned by a group...

The Rashi says as follows... והמדרש אומר יודע אני שיש להם חלק בתמידי צבור אף חלקם לא יקובל לפניך לרצון תניחנו האש ולא תאכלנו

We discuss the question of public ownership, and other questions regarding this Medrash...

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




Thursday, July 7, 2016

Chukat- Balak 76 Self-control and Self-discipline by Allan Katz

Guest Post by Allan Katz

In our parasha, the children of Israel, defeat Sichon and capture the capital city of Cheshbon. Sichon had captured the city Cheshbon from Moav with the help of the curses of 2 famous sorcerers Bil'am and his father Be'or. The Torah relates this with the words –Numbers 21:27 Regarding this the poets- those who speak in parables - would say Come to Cheshbon ….עַל כֵּן יֹאמְרוּ הַמֹּשְׁלִים בֹּאוּ חֶשְׁבּוֹן The Talmud Baba Batra 78b translates ' moshel ' as ruler and ' cheshbon ' as an account or calculation . The righteous people who have attained mastery over and rule their evil inclinations proclaim – make an account and a calculation. They live their lives with thought and circumspection. They calculate the loss or cost involved in doing a mitzvah against its profit and the gain of a transgression against its loss and calculate the impact of their actions on the world. על כן יאמרו המושלים וגו' המושלים אלו המושלים ביצרם בואו חשבון בואו ונחשב חשבונו של עולם הפסד מצוה כנגד שכרה ושכר עבירה כנגד הפסדה

The Talmud talks about the value and virtue of self –regulation, having self- discipline and self-control. Self-discipline is about marshalling one's willpower to accomplish things that are generally desirable and worthwhile, while self-control is using the same willpower to stop oneself from sinning, doing something undesirable or to delay gratification. In educational circles, the famous Marshmallow test by Walter Mischel and its conclusion echo the same message. Children were left alone in a room after having been told that they could get a small treat – one marshmallow, by ringing a bell at any time to summon the experimenter or if they held out after his return they would get a bigger treat – 2 marshmallows. Children who had better self –control and could delay gratification, scored better on measures of cognitive and social skills about a decade later and also had higher SAT scores. Mischel says that home environment and not the ability to delay gratification might have been responsible for the children's achievement found 10 years later. Also, it was the ability to distract themselves and focus on something else and not grim determination, self-control and will-power that helped children to wait longer. One cannot engage the evil inclination head on, but we have to use תחבולות, tricks and other strategies. The Talmud Baba Batra 78b says that those people who can control their evil inclinations do so, by engaging their thinking, their prefrontal cortex, rather than their emotional and animal brains. They focus on values and do a cost-benefit analysis of their actions or plans and make an account or calculation, not only for themselves but for the world as a whole. In delaying gratification and not sinning, the reward may be in the distant future in the world to come, but when we do good God supports us in this world so that we can do more mitzvoth and good - מצווה גוררת מצווה. What's more important than a future reward is the intrinsic reward of doing the mitzvah itself– שכר מצווה מצווה. The Talmud goes further and takes us out of the realm of the ' self 'and self -interest , even if the focus is on spiritual self- interest. The Talmud says; make a calculation, an account for the world. As an individual you can tip the scales of the whole world by doing a mitzvah. Our actions can impact on others, the community and society in either a positive or negative way. A concern for the community and a spirit of altruism should be guiding our behavior , and help us overcome any temptation.

In schools, there is a new focus to help children acquire ' grit' – the power of passion and perseverance. It is quite understandable that we should want kids to be able to persevere and persist at worthwhile tasks, but is grit a character trait that should be promoted by teachers without qualification - as a character trait that can stand alone? Grit is problematic in its own right in that not everything is worth doing, let alone for extended periods. Persistence can be counterproductive and unhealthy when a problem resists solution or persisting in a task no longer provides satisfaction and also one can end up with missing out on new opportunities. In schools the focus is on test-scores and compliance so ' grit' teaching promotes these limited goals and the focus on the process of learning, discovery, curiosity and collaboration, experimenting and being more interdisciplinary etc is pushed aside . When goal is persistence and it does not matter if the student's learning is driven by interest and passion, by a competitive spirit where others kids are seen as obstacles in your way to success or a desperate need to prove competence. The problem is that schools are focused just on fostering persistence and perseverance and ignore passion. Not all kids have the resources to find their passion, or teaching, coaching and mentoring to inspire them to keep digging in. The solution is not just in the individual kid, being able to persist and persevere but providing the ' structure' and resources that support passion and perseverance. And even when kids do display grit and do well in school, it does not guarantee a future if grit does not come with privilege. Kids need ' agency', the ability to leverage opportunities to change their circumstances, to acquire social capital and connections that will open doors for them. While children might believe that education works on the whole, he or she might not think that it works for him or her and that depends a lot on parent's level of education and whether peers are dropping out or graduating from school and furthering their studies. The Talmud Nedarim 81A says that educators should be zealous in teaching the poor and providing them with the resources and opportunities to succeed. This is learned from the verse in parashat Balak, Numbers 24:7 - Water = (the Torah) will drip from its well = mi'dalyo. We read this like mi'dalim, from poor people. הזהרו בבני עניים שמהן תצא תורה שנאמר יזל מים מדליו – מדלים ,שמהן תצא תורה .
Unlike the rich who can be very focused on what they have, the poor focus on who they are as people who love learning so they have the potential to become great Torah scholars.

In Parasha Balak, Bil'am says of the children of Israel –That God - He perceived no iniquity in Jacob, and saw no perversity in Israel Numbers 23:21 לֹלא הִבִּיט אָוֶן בְּיַעֲקֹב וְלֹא רָאָה עָמָל בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל. The word a'mal = perversity has a second meaning – toil, work that is exhausting and laborious. Bil'am says that God sees no exhaustion, toil or drudgery in Israel's service of God and the learning and study of the Torah. Because they are whole-heartedly devoted and dedicated to doing the mitzvoth and learning Torah, and they do so with a passion, they are therefore tireless in its pursuit. Their passion fuels persistence and perseverance. And when there are challenges and obstacles in the way, self-discipline supports the intrinsic motivation and passion for what we do. Intrinsic motivation and passion is promoted when kids feel self-directed, autonomous, and competent and have a sense of belonging and support.

Self-discipline and self-control must be expressed in the context of a passion for values, of doing things that are worthwhile and making a contribution to others.

Germany rape law: 'No means No' law passed - even if victim did not fight back


Germany's parliament has passed a new law defining rape, clarifying that "No means No", even if a victim did not fight back.

Critics believe Germany has long lagged behind other developed nations when it comes to its rape laws.

The issue was again brought to the fore after a number of sex attacks on women in Cologne on New Year's Eve.The vote was passed by an overwhelming majority on Thursday in the Bundestag in the capital, Berlin. The new law classifies groping as a sex crime and makes it easier to prosecute assaults committed by large group. It also makes it easier to deport migrants who commit sex offences. [...]

"In the past there were cases where women were raped but the perpetrators couldn't be punished,'' Minister for Women Manuela Schwesig said.

"The change in the law will help increase the number of victims who choose to press charges, lower the number of criminal prosecutions that are shelved and ensure sexual assaults are properly punished."

What was under discussion?

Under the previous law, defined in Section 177 of the criminal code (in German), victims should have defended themselves for an act to constitute rape. Simply saying "No" was not sufficient to find the defendant guilty, and there was no attempt to define what constituted consent.

The inadequacy of the law meant many perpetrators got away with rape, according to a 2014 study of 107 cases by the German association of women's counselling centres and rape crisis centres (BFF).

The authors said that in every case, sexual assaults had been committed against the victim's unambiguous will, which had been communicated verbally to the perpetrator. However, they said, either charges were not filed or there was no court conviction.

The study went on to note that the law placed too much focus on whether the victim resisted and did not reflect real-life scenarios in which people were raped.

Only one in 10 rapes is reported in Germany currently, according to Germany's n-tv news website. And of those, the conviction rate is only 10%.[...]

Cologne sex attacks: MPs debate tougher laws

And, in a case that has sparked an outcry in Germany, two men were acquitted of drugging and raping German model Gina-Lisa Lohfink - despite having uploaded a video of what took place, in which she was reportedly heard saying, "Stop it, stop it" and "No".

Not only were the men cleared of wrongdoing, but Ms Lohfink was fined €24,000 (£21,000; $27,000) for falsely testifying.[...]

Campaigners say the new law is a good start, but does not go far enough.

They have expressed concern that the law will not give adequate protection to victims who cannot clearly convey their lack of consent - such as those who have been drugged.

There are also plans to tighten the law governing sexual harassment and group assaults. [...]

Chareidi man arrested for sexually assaulting chareidi minors on #418 Beit Shemesh-Jerusalem bus

updateKikar HaShabbat is the source of this report

Arutz 7   A man in his 30s has been arrested on the suspicion of sexual assault of children on buses.

Police reported this morning (Thursday) that an arrest has been made in connection with an investigation into allegations of sexual assault of minors on a bus route operating between Beit Shemesh and Jerusalem.

According to the police report, the suspect has been frequenting the bus route, which caters to many young students traveling to schools and Yeshivas. He would sit next to a young boy, put his Teffilin bag on his lap, and touch his own genitals while touching the boy next to him.

The investigation was opened following an official complaint filed by one victim. Intelligence resources were brought to bear, and with the cooperation of influential community leaders in Beit Shemesh the police's efforts culminated in the suspect's arrest yesterday.

The police has called on other victims to come forward and file reports to help prosecutors build a case against the suspect.

The Deputy Commander of Beit Shemesh police said: "This is a severe matter. According to our findings we are dealing with a large number of victims. We were able to make the arrest thanks to the fruitful cooperation between the police and residents and community leaders in the city, this in addition to the professionalism of the investigators. The police will use all of it's resources to bring the man to justice."

According to reports by Kikar Hashabbat, the bus route is the 418, a "Mehadrin" route, meaning men and women sit in separate sections of the bus. The suspect was always dressed in haredi garb, according to the reports.

Crisis of Character:The Secret Service Officer Out to Get Hillary Clinton

Daily Beast  The battle is joined between a former uniformed Secret Service officer and Hillary Clinton’s presidential juggernaut.

Gary J. Byrne’s book-length hit job on the presumptive Democratic nominee, Crisis of Character, won’t be released until Tuesday, yet it is already a massive best-seller on Amazon, vying for the No. 1 spot day by day against J.K. Rowling’s latest Harry Potter adventure.

In a 2016 campaign that has repeatedly defied conventional wisdom and exploded historical norms, political operatives of the former first lady, senator and secretary of state find themselves going toe to toe in the media with a heretofore unknown retired government employee who—along with his publisher, Hachette’s Center Street division—hopes to sway the U.S. electorate on who should become the next leader of the free world… and make a bundle in the bargain.

Byrne’s sensational, gossipy and widely disputed allegations include claims that:
• He walked in on Bill Clinton making out with television personality Eleanor Mondale (the daughter of the former vice president who staunchly denied a romantic relationship with Clinton before she died of brain cancer in 2011).
• Byrne disposed of lipstick- and semen-stained towels from the president’s extra-marital trysts, and not just with Monica Lewinsky (a claim contradicted by his own testimony in sworn depositions, as BuzzFeed reported this week). 
• Hillary gave her husband a black eye during a rowdy argument in the White House residence and also hurled an antique vase at him; that the first lady was regularly foul-mouthed and abusive to her protective detail, throwing a Bible at one agent and driving many others to alcohol and hookers.
These and other spicy anecdotes in the book figure to become Republican talking points over the next five months.

Clinton’s all-but-certain opponent, Donald Trump, has been mentioning the book repeatedly on television, and even quoted the former Secret Service employee in his slash-and-burn “Crooked Hillary” speech on Wednesday, having started tweeting about Byrne’s book on June 6, right after the New York Post, the Daily Mail and the Drudge Report began dropping salacious tidbits.

Yet Team Clinton has been toiling assiduously—and in many cases, successfully—to limit the potential damage, issuing denunciations, fact sheets and, in the case of rightwing hit man-turned-Clinton acolyte David Brock, a meticulous 7,000-plus-word debunking, “Eight Things You Should Know about Crisis of Character,” from Brock’s pro-Hillary super-PAC Correct the Record.

ABC’s syndicated morning show, The View, devoted two Hot Topics segments to Crisis of Character on Wednesday, with Hillary supporters Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar on one side, and Paula Farris and Sunny Hostin on the other, debating the credibility of Byrne’s narrative.

Yet despite significant print media attention and an expectation of huge sales, the author has been consigned to hawking his book on Fox News and right-wing radio, while the non-Fox cable and broadcast networks have either passed or not responded to pitches from Byrne’s publicists.[...]

Byrne, who was unavailable for comment but joined Twitter this month to promote his book, spent three years of Bill Clinton’s presidency stationed outside the Oval Office—a low-level post that is not part of the elite protective detail.

Former agents insist it would not have put him in regular contact with the Clintons, but Byrne claims that it gave him intimate access to the first couple and their sometimes alarming personal quirks.

As Byrne prepares to launch his nationwide publicity tour—appearing Monday on Sean Hannity’s syndicated radio show and Fox News nighttime program, Tuesday on Megyn Kelly’s Fox News prime-time show, and Wednesday morning on Fox & Friends—Clinton campaign spokesman Nick Merrill is dismissing Crisis of Character as essentially a pack of lies, a sentiment echoed by a retired Secret Service supervisor who runs an association of former and current agents.

Former presidential protective division supervisor Jan Gilhooly, president of the Association of Former Agents of the U.S. Secret Service, theorized to Politico that Byrne is simply repeating the most outrageous Clinton White House rumors as fact and then fictionalizing his role in them.

“Did Gary Byrne hear an anecdotal story being told by a couple of agents? Maybe. But did Gary Byrne see it the way he’s purporting to have seen it? No way,” said Gilhooly, whose nominally non-partisan organization issued a lengthy statement this week casting doubt on Byrne’s motives, questioning his “veracity,” and accusing him of trying “to place a divide within the ranks of the Agency and attempt to erode the confidence of those protected by the Secret Service.” [...]

F.B.I. Chief to Explain Recommendation on Hillary Clinton Before Congress


The F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, will testify before Congress on Thursday to explain his decision to recommend no criminal charges against Hillary Clinton, but the appearance will be only the beginning of the tests Republicans plan as they maneuver to capitalize on Mr. Comey’s rebuke of the presumptive Democratic nominee and her handling of classified emails.

Next week, Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch will be called before the House Judiciary Committee. A Senate panel is demanding F.B.I. answers to pointed questions on the former secretary of state’s private email server. House Speaker Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin even suggested that Mrs. Clinton be barred from classified briefings for the remainder of the presidential campaign.

Those moves could stretch out Mrs. Clinton’s email travails for weeks, if not months, alleviating some of the anguish among many Republicans, who believe their party’s presumptive nominee, Donald J. Trump, has failed to seize the remarkable opportunity presented by Mr. Comey’s reproach.

Instead of drawing sharp attention to what Mr. Comey called Mrs. Clinton’s “extremely careless” handling of 110 classified emails, and contrasting the F.B.I.’s findings with Mrs. Clinton’s shifting explanations of her use of a private email server, Mr. Trump responded tepidly on Twitter.

“The system is rigged,” he wrote. Referring to a case involving David H. Petraeus, the retired general and C.I.A. director, he added: “General Petraeus got in trouble for far less. Very very unfair! As usual, bad judgment.”

Veteran Republican campaign operatives said they were stunned that Mr. Comey’s announcement was not met with a battalion of well-credentialed Republican law enforcement and national security officials flooding televisions to raise questions about the inquiry and hammer Mrs. Clinton.

Nor were any talking points sent to leading Republican members of Congress offering guidance on the best lines of attack against Mrs. Clinton after what was a remarkably harsh assessment of her conduct. [...]

These efforts come with substantial risks for Republicans. Mr. Comey is a veteran law enforcement official who served as deputy attorney general in the George W. Bush administration and is highly regarded in both parties for his integrity and independence.

If he makes a convincing case for his decision on Thursday before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, it could make Republicans look foolish and bolster efforts by Democrats to put the email issue to rest.

Democrats were quick to accuse the Republicans of refusing to accept the F.B.I.’s recommendation, despite past praise for Mr. Comey. [...]

A spokesman for Mrs. Clinton, Brian Fallon, accused Republicans of flip-flopping. “For weeks, Republicans have said they trusted F.B.I. Director Comey to lead an independent review in Secretary Clinton’s emails,” Mr. Fallon said, “but now they are second-guessing his judgment because his findings do not align with their conspiracy theories.” [...]