PEDOPHILES ON THE RUN ARRESTED AFTER BEING COVERED IN CEMENT AND TIED TO A BENCH

.newsweek


PSNI Detective Chief Inspector Jill Duffed said they were "kicked and beaten with iron bars before being taken to Mullah village, where they were further assaulted by a number of individuals and covered in paint.

“Both men were taken to hospital by police, one of the males has been arrested and the other remains in hospital being treated for his injuries.

“Unfortunately, now, due to the violent actions of a small number of people, we have had to redirect resources and efforts towards investigating a serious assault. There is no excuse for individuals taking the law into their own hands nor for the violent scenes that we witnessed last night,” she added, according to a statement by the PSNI.

Police had information that the pair had been approaching children. They became friends after Lydiard, from County Down, left jail earlier this year following a seven-month sentence for ignoring a court order banning him from online dating sites. He has nine convictions for sexual assault, assaults causing harm and threats to kill.

White, from South Armagh, has been convicted of five sexual assault charges and 62 previous convictions in all, including sexual assault, assault causing bodily harm and threats to kill.

Ran - concerning witchcraft

https://www.sefaria.org/Darashos_HaRan.3.8

The answer: There being nothing of greater moment for mankind than the Torah and the receiving of it, it befits the nation that receives it to be given the strongest possible indications that the Torah is true and for all elements to be removed from those indications and from the experience in general that might engender any doubts as to its Divine origin. This is the entire import of the exodus from Egypt. The Blessed One willed the origination of the wonders which marked that redemption (beyond a doubt the prelude to the Torah) to demonstrate to all of Israel that what is withheld from nature is not withheld from the Blessed One. For this is the very cornerstone of our religion, and one who denies it denies his faith in general and completely dismisses the concept of reward and punishment. And since this is the pole upon which the Torah revolves, He desired that this become manifest in the land of Egypt, the land of diviners and necromancers. For what is there demonstrated as outside the realm of nature — necromancy, a branch of the natural arts, being impotent to perform it — what is there demonstrated as outside the realm of nature certainly lays claim to our belief as an act of G d and as an incontrovertible demonstration that what is beyond the scope of nature is not beyond the powers of G d. If these signs and wonders had been originated in a land devoid of the magic arts, the "cornerstone" would still be subject to an undermining doubt, the possibility remaining that people would ascribe all the signs to magic, regarding them all as possible within the scope of nature.

https://www.sefaria.org/Darashos_HaRan.3.9

This is the idea intimated by our sages of blessed memory (Menachoth 85a): "Yochni and Mamre said to Moses: 'Are you bringing straw to Ophriim [a city rich in straw?' He answered: 'People say: "Take your greens to a place of greens."'" That is, Yochni and Mamre, Egyptian magicians, assumed that the signs performed by the true prophet were the products of magic, and in the baseness of their thoughts censured him for attempting to deceive the people in a land full of these magic arts. And Moses responded: "People say: 'Take your greens to a place of greens.'" That is, if one is expert in something his true eminence will be recognized only in a land containing men who are highly proficient in that thing itself. For there the greatness of his art can be tested against theirs, just as really excellent greens are more likely to be sold in a city rich in greens, their superiority being more readily discriminated in such a place. In the same way it is fitting that Moses' signs be tested in this land, where they will be more highly valued than in any other land. For in such a land they will be readily discriminated as products of Divine power, as beyond the scope of human ingenuity. The entire exodus was arranged, then, in such a way as to obviate any doubt of its having been the outcome of absolute Divine power.

https://www.sefaria.org/Darashos_HaRan.4.21

The answer: That sin which is cause for apprehension on the Blessed One's part as potentially resulting in the destruction of the Jews is idol worship, to which the sin of the golden calf was similar in character. For the other transgressions do not arouse the Blessed One's wrath to such a great extent; idol worship is to be much more feared in this regard. And there is more reason for apprehension of this sin in the desert than in the land of Israel. For the Jews knew that the other lands were under the ordinance of stars and constellations, as our sages state (Kethuboth 110b): "All who live in the land of Israel, it is as if they have a G-d; all who live outside the land of Israel, it is as if they do not have a G-d." This is because the other, gentile lands are under the ordinance of heavenly plenipotentiaries, an ordinance which cannot be changed except through miraculous, Heavenly intervention (this being the intent of "for he will not forgive your sins"). Therefore, if one lives outside the land of Israel, because he is under the ordinance of a star or of a constellation, his prayer is not so readily accepted as it would be if he lived in the land of Israel, which is not under the dominion of a chief, an officer, or a ruler, but of the Blessed One Himself, as it is written (Deuteronomy 31:16): "and they go astray after the strange gods of the land" — indicating that all gods, except the Blessed One Himself, are strangers in that land. And because the Jews knew this, they would be more apt to stray into idol worship outside the land of Israel, the province of other powers (as they, indeed, said [Exodus 32:1]: "Arise and make us a god which will go before us") than they would in the land of Israel itself. Add to this the fact that they would more likely cleave to the Holy One in the holy land than outside it and that there is more reason for apprehension that rebellion against the word of G-d would result in destruction in the desert than in the land of Israel in that the desert is a place fraught with the danger of "snakes, serpents, scorpions, and drought, no water being there" (Deuteronomy 8:15), so that destruction is more of a possibility there than in other places. This is not as the pseudo-pious would have it, that the power of G-d is constant in all places, for good or for evil. This is not so, but the Blessed One has stamped it into the nature of things that loss is more likely to result in dangerous places than in others, so that if He is not constantly providential of one in such places but abandons him to the vicissitudes of time, then evil will certainly befall him, unlike the case in other places, where there is not cause for such apprehension. Therefore, the Blessed One said to Moses: This does not require My apprising you of My ways, for I have no intention of separating Myself from you, but My presence will go in your midst when I grant rest to you — and them (what is stated of Moses applying to all of Israel, as in "to heed you on the way," where the meaning is obviously not to heed Moses alone). But this did not suffice for Moses, who answered (Exodus 33:15): "If Your presence does not go, do not take us up from here." That is, if Your presence does not go, we should not move from this spot at all. For how will it be known that we have been singled out from the other nations if not by Your going with us now? For when we are in the land of Israel, they will attribute our fortune not to us but to the land, seeing that when we were not in the land You did not walk in the midst of our camp. And the Blessed One acknowledged this, saying (Ibid 17): "This thing, too, that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in My eyes and I have known you by name." He elaborated here, saying "for you have found favor in My eyes" in response to Moses' first having said (Ibid 12): "and You said: 'I have known you by name and you have also found favor in My eyes'" — indicating thereby that He was doing so by virtue of Moses' having found favor in His eyes. And He added "and I will know you by name," in response to "and You said: "I have known you by name,'" not as Moses said (Ibid 16) "so that I and Your people be singled out from all the peoples," but "because you have found favor in My eyes." And this is also by way of intimating that His acquiescing in walking in their midst and not governing them through an angel would be limited to the days of Moses alone; but afterwards, in the days of Joshua, the aforementioned angel would lead the Jews until they came "to the rest and to the inheritance," as we shall explain.

https://www.sefaria.org/Darashos_HaRan.4.28

There is also another reason for its being stated here "Do not bow down to their gods." It is my view that the root of idol worship was the notion that angels or the heavenly host could exert a beneficent or maleficent influence upon one in accordance with their will. This error originated in the following manner: Though these agencies do not have the power to do good or evil in themselves, they cannot be barred from exerting an influence more or less in accordance with the predisposition of the recipients. So that, for example, the moon will increase moisture in terrestrial bodies as they are predisposed to receive moisture, and the sun will heat them as they are predisposed to receive heat, and so, in relation to the other stars and to the angels that are above them. However, the predisposition of terrestrial bodies to receive the influence and effects of the celestial ones can be secured either by conditioning through recognized natural procedures, such as heating with hot or by cooling with cold or by conditioning through things whose nature is hidden and which operate by virtue of certain phenomenological properties. Now those objects which acquire a predisposition through the recognized, natural qualities of things generating this predisposition provide no ground for doubt and do not serve as the basis for the error of idolatry. But the type of things which predispose bodies to acquire the effluence of celestial entities by virtue of certain phenomenological properties, their hidden natures, as it were — these things caused ignorant men to stray into idol worship. For in their ignorance of the natures of these properties it did not occur to them at all that these things could produce a change in the nature of the body of the recipient, and they could attribute their efficacy to no other cause than the favor these operations found in the eyes of the celestial emanators, the angels or stars, as it were, who, witnessing these activities, increased their effluence to the bodies of these recipients. And this was the root and foundation upon which idolatry was built and which led its practitioners to sacrifice and bring offerings to an angel or a star to gain its favor. And this contravenes the truth in two ways. First, because there is nothing in our deeds which can cause any kind of satisfaction or distress whatsoever to any of the celestial entities, there being nothing whatsoever in common between our deeds and their natures. Second, because the energy or effluence emanated by them is limited. They cannot increase or diminish it in and of themselves but only in relation to the predisposition of the recipients, contrary to the view of the idolators, who see these changes as stemming from the emanators. And this is the reason for its being written here "Do not bow down to their gods" after the statement "Take heed of him and hearken to his word…" That is, after I have permitted you to hearken to the voice of this angel and to bow down to him in view of his distinctive exaltation over the other angels — the fact that my Name is within him — notwithstanding all this, I have told you that he will not forgive your sins, being only a deputy in My embassy — then what should be the case with the other angels, who are not on his level, and, certainly, with the hosts of heaven! Can you not understand from this that they have no power to do good or evil in themselves? That being the case, do not bow down to their gods and do not serve them, for no benefit will accrue to you from this as you might imagine.

https://www.sefaria.org/Darashos_HaRan.4.28

There is also another reason for its being stated here "Do not bow down to their gods." It is my view that the root of idol worship was the notion that angels or the heavenly host could exert a beneficent or maleficent influence upon one in accordance with their will. This error originated in the following manner: Though these agencies do not have the power to do good or evil in themselves, they cannot be barred from exerting an influence more or less in accordance with the predisposition of the recipients. So that, for example, the moon will increase moisture in terrestrial bodies as they are predisposed to receive moisture, and the sun will heat them as they are predisposed to receive heat, and so, in relation to the other stars and to the angels that are above them. However, the predisposition of terrestrial bodies to receive the influence and effects of the celestial ones can be secured either by conditioning through recognized natural procedures, such as heating with hot or by cooling with cold or by conditioning through things whose nature is hidden and which operate by virtue of certain phenomenological properties. Now those objects which acquire a predisposition through the recognized, natural qualities of things generating this predisposition provide no ground for doubt and do not serve as the basis for the error of idolatry. But the type of things which predispose bodies to acquire the effluence of celestial entities by virtue of certain phenomenological properties, their hidden natures, as it were — these things caused ignorant men to stray into idol worship. For in their ignorance of the natures of these properties it did not occur to them at all that these things could produce a change in the nature of the body of the recipient, and they could attribute their efficacy to no other cause than the favor these operations found in the eyes of the celestial emanators, the angels or stars, as it were, who, witnessing these activities, increased their effluence to the bodies of these recipients. And this was the root and foundation upon which idolatry was built and which led its practitioners to sacrifice and bring offerings to an angel or a star to gain its favor. And this contravenes the truth in two ways. First, because there is nothing in our deeds which can cause any kind of satisfaction or distress whatsoever to any of the celestial entities, there being nothing whatsoever in common between our deeds and their natures. Second, because the energy or effluence emanated by them is limited. They cannot increase or diminish it in and of themselves but only in relation to the predisposition of the recipients, contrary to the view of the idolators, who see these changes as stemming from the emanators. And this is the reason for its being written here "Do not bow down to their gods" after the statement "Take heed of him and hearken to his word…" That is, after I have permitted you to hearken to the voice of this angel and to bow down to him in view of his distinctive exaltation over the other angels — the fact that my Name is within him — notwithstanding all this, I have told you that he will not forgive your sins, being only a deputy in My embassy — then what should be the case with the other angels, who are not on his level, and, certainly, with the hosts of heaven! Can you not understand from this that they have no power to do good or evil in themselves? That being the case, do not bow down to their gods and do not serve them, for no benefit will accrue to you from this as you might imagine.

https://www.sefaria.org/Darashos_HaRan.4.31

What does cause me wonder, however, is the Torah's explicit prohibition of witchcraft, a prohibition included in this parshah, viz. (Exodus 23:23): "and do not practice their deeds." There is no doubt that witchcraft is founded in truth, though the Rambam writes in the aforementioned chapter that it is a vain matter, containing no truth. This is contrary to the view expressed by our sages of blessed memory in many places. To cite one instance (Chullin 7b): "A certain woman tried to get some soil from beneath the feet of R. Chanina [in order to kill him through an incantation pronounced over the soil]. He said to her: 'Go and take it; it is written (Deuteronomy 4:35): "There is none else beside Him."'" The Gemara goes on to ask: "But did R. Yochanan not say: 'Why are they [practices of witchcraft] called keshafim? Because they deny the heavenly retinue…'!" And the answer is given: "R. Chanina is different, for he possessed great merit." It is quite clear from this that the sages regarded witchcraft and its effects as real and not as just imagined. According to what we have written, then, witchcraft should be permitted in respect to the predisposition of the recipient (it being obviously a vain thing in respect to the activation of an agent in the heavenly host). Why, then, did the Torah forbid it?

anulling mariages

a number of years ago I had a brief conversation with one of the sons in law of the leading opponent to the Kaminetsky Greenblatt heter and asked why the protests stopped when Rav Kaminetsky agrreed with Rav Dovif Feinstein that the Heter was garbage? He replied that the backlash was so severe that no one would dare do such an irresponsible thing again


I was recently informed that Rav Greenblatt is currently working on a number of new cases which are equally shaky   - but there are still no protests.

he obviously thinks that he wont be criticized again !     -  

rav kasher Creation

http://beta.hebrewbooks.org/3086

see page 256

Rav Sternbuch - are alternative healing methods permitted?

vol 6 #177

Alternative healing Rav Sternbuch vol six 177 yd The contemporary rabbis dispute the status of alternative healing that originated from idolatry from India and China and has spread to chareidim in Iisrael and outside of Israel in recent time. Some prohibit to heal with these techniques while oth permit claiming that these involve are simply using natural forces that exist in nature which were unknown to us but were known only to idolaters of India and China some of them being revealed to us in recent time and they bring proof from the fact that these treatments work! I found in the sefer Heichal Horaah to my good friend Hagaon Rav Mayer Bransdorfer who mentions that his father the author of Hakaneh Bosem that initially .told him that these alternative medical treatments work only through natural processes therefore he permitted people to go to these therapists for treatment however later he heard from others that these treatments. Involved unnatural forces which causes many concerns and henceforth did not permit treatments except to those who were in the midst of treatment and felt that the treatments were working that they could finish the course of treatment". As far as myself I do not posken as to whether it is permitted or prohibited butI only request that the therapists of these treatments hang up signs in their clinics that the treatments they do is entirely natural I will explain the reason for this In my view the matter depends on whether the treatment is natural even if people aren't certain but they feel it might be then there is no prohibition of magic (kishuf)

The Mesadrei Gittin Conference—Improving Halachic Standards and Personal Sensitivity - a true joke

http://forums.dansdeals.com/index.php?topic=57263.675
https://www.jewishlinknj.com/component/content/article?id=10491

November 25, 2015

Most of the active mesadrei gittin (get administrators) in the United States gathered in Manhattan last week for a day-long conference. It was a fantastic event. We had the privilege and opportunity to hear from leading halachic authorities such as Rav Nota Greenblatt, Rav Hershel Schachter, Rav Mordechai Willig and Rav Mendel Senderovic (listed in order of age). The focus was on addressing the manifold halachic challenges involved in gittin administration, such as securing the cooperation of recalcitrant men and women. There was also a special presentation by Dr. David Pelcovitz, a leading psychologist who has also been active in beit din matters for many years. Dr. Pelcovitz emphasized the need for get administrators to prepare couples for what will occur at the get, noting that people cope with a traumatic event far more effectively when they know what to expect. He also noted the wisdom of bringing a friend for support (although I noted that one should avoid bringing someone whom the other party might find irritating).

One vignette stands out, though, in my mind as most memorable and insightful. Rav Nota Greenblatt, the country’s senior get administrator who has been administering gittin since 1952(!), related how he dealt with a particular challenge he encountered in a midwestern city. The woman insisted that she should hand the get to her husband instead of the Torah-mandated procedure of the husband handing the wife the get. She argued that since it was he who misbehaved during the marriage and not she (a fact that went unchallenged by the husband) then she should be the one to deliver the get.

9 students killed in flash flood

update ny times
At least nine Israeli teenagers on a “bonding” trip were killed, and one was still missing, after a flash flood swept them away on Thursday while they were hiking in a riverbed near the Dead Sea.

jpost


"We were unable to escape the current and were swept away by the river," a rescued youth said on Channel 10 news. 

Three teams of the IDF's elite 669 Search and Rescue Unit, aided by their three Yasur choppers and one Apache helicopter, were searching for the missing.

Police instructed people to stay away from the area.

As those killed were not carrying ID's their families were brought in to identify them.  

Releasing a statement on the tragic incident, President Reuven Rivlin said: "Our prayers and thoughts are with our brothers, our children, and our loved ones who are in trouble. We are closely following the updates from the south and send a warm embrace to the worried families. We will strengthen all the security and rescue forces, who are in the process of search and rescue and medical treatment. I ask you all, please follow the instructions of the police and rescue forces and be attentive to them."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is closely following the rescue mission and was updated on it over the phone by Operations Directive Maj. Gen. Yoav Har-Even. 

"I support the security and rescue forces that are currently working to save lives and to locate those missing in the severe disaster that occurred today in Nahal Tzapit," Netanyahu said. "We are all praying for better news."

Highway 90 is now blocked in both directions between the Arava junction and the Eilat entry road block. The spokeswoman for the city of Eilat, Dana Zanti, stated that a ceiling had collapsed in the Isrotel Red Sea hotel. 

Alternative Medicine in Halacha: a Review by Rabbi Hoffman

hear rabbi Tendler
yutorah

see Rabbi Belsky Alternative healing
amazon

ywn

By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for the Five Towns Jewish Times

Rabbi Rephoel Szmerla’s new Sefer entitled, “Alternative Medicine in Halacha” [Israel Bookshop 198 pages English 398 pages Hebrew 596 total] is divided into two sections – the main part of the Sefer and the in-depth biurim in Hebrew in the back of the work. In the biurim, it is truly groundbreaking in terms of its exhaustive treatment of the aveiros of the occult: specifically, kishuf, doresh el hameisim, nichush and kosaim. It also deals with following the ways of the gentiles (Darchei Amori) and of the Mitzvah of Tamim Tehiyeh. In discussing these aveiros, the author takes us through every opinion of the rishonim.

CONCLUSION

As stated throughout this review – the halachic views of the Rabbi Szmerla constitute amazing depth and profundity in the Hebrew biurim section. The medical views espoused in the main body of the book are, in this reviewer’s opinion and in the opinion of a number of mathematically trained doctors and scientists, quite dangerous. Traditionally, our abilities in calculating the ibbur and other such areas of Torah thought have been described by the rishonim as “ki hi chachmaschem uvinaschem b’ainai ha’amim.” The rejection of statistics in how medicine is applied is a dangerous trend.

The author can be reached at yairhoffman2@gmail.com

A double-blind, randomized study to assess the validity of applied kinesiology (AK) as a diagnostic tool and as a nonlocal proximity effect.

0.927, P = .629.

CONCLUSION:

The data in this study, particularly when seen in the larger context of a review of the literature from the AK field itself by Klinkoski and Leboeuf (1990), which considered 50 papers published between 1981 and 1987 by the International College of Applied Kinesiology, and the survey by Hall, Lewith, Brien, and Little (2008), using standard evaluation criteria [quality assessment tool for studies of diagnostic accuracy included in systematic reviews (QUADAS), Standards for Reporting of Diagnostic Studies (STARD), JADAD, and Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT)], for research methodology, as well as six prior non-clinical studies by Radin (1984), Quintanar and Hill (1988), Braud (1989), Arnett et al. (1999), Ludtke (2001), and Kendler and Keating (2003), all together suggest the following: The research published by the Applied Kinesiology field itself is not to be relied upon, and in the experimental studies that do meet accepted standards of science, Applied Kinesiology has not demonstrated that it is a useful or reliable diagnostic tool upon which health decisions can be based.

://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24607076

dr Weil

Dr. Weil notes that physiologically, there’s no reason to believe that an external evaluation of a muscle’s strength can diagnose nutritional problems inside the body, or that consuming a certain nutrient could immediately correct a severely weak muscle. He maintains that AK falls far short on reliability for diagnosis and treatment of any health condition, and advises both skepticism and caution when it comes to this form of care.

המשגיח על החיילים: "אחד מבני החבורה שמת - תדאג כל החבורה"

http://m.bhol.co.il/article.aspx?id=132731&cat=6&scat=41

בימי מלחמת ששת הימים, מסר מרן המשגיח רבי יחזקאל לוינשטיין זצ"ל, דברים נוקבים בפני בחורי ישיבת פוניבז': "מאות אלפים מאחינו מתגלגלים בשדות, בקור ובחום, ופחד המוות מרחף עליהם, משפחותיהם מודאגות ושבורות, איך נפרש את המסתובב בשלוה ומנוחה, ממלא כל תאוותיו ורצונותיו, משום שהוא נמצא במקומו"

Address by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the State Marking the 70th anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany

http:http://www.jwmww2.org/Address_by_Prime_Minister_Benjamin_Netanyahu_at_the_State_Marking_the_70th_anniversary_of_victory_ov

Rav Moshe disagrees with view of Satmer

שו"ת אגרות משה יורה דעה חלק ד סימן ח
ב. נס הצלה שנעשה על ידי חיילים שאינם שומרי תורה
ובדבר יהודי שנחטף באוגנדא וניצול משם ע"י החיילים שבאו לשם, מסתבר שיש להחשיב זה לנס גלוי, כי בדרך הטבע לא היה אפשר להיות דבר כזה. וכל מה שנעשה בעולם הוא רק יד השי"ת בין הטוב ובין ח"ו להיפוך, והוא המכה והמרפא. והוא עשה שנשבו, והוא עשה ההצלה בזה שנתן אומץ ורצון שילכו להציל, ואשר הצליח דרכם שהצילו. ודרכי השי"ת שעשה הנס ע"י פושעים נעלמו ממנו. ואסור לשום אדם להתחכם בקושיות על הקדוש ברוך הוא, אלא תמים תהיה עם ה' כמפורש בתורה (דברים י"ח י"ג).
והנני ידידם, משה פיינשטיין. 

FROM MOURNING TO JOY: ISRAEL CELEBRATES 70 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE

jpost


Israel’s 70th Independence Day and annual torch lighting ceremony took place at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem Wednesday evening.

As a bereaved father read the Yizkor prayer and the Israeli flag was returned to full mast, Memorial Day segued into Independence Day. This year, 1,500 singers, dancers, speakers and performers took part in the annual event which was attended by an audience of 6,500.