Novominsker Rebbe:Most difficult thing in abuse cases is how to address these crimes publicly while preserving kedusha in homes

In the current edition of Mishpacha (Sept 26, 2011 page 17) is a noteworthy exchange between Mrs. Bella Tzibushkin and Rabbi Aryeh Ginzberg regarding an article he had published in a previous edition  bemoaning the negative impact the knowledge of scandals had on the kedusha of the home. 

Mrs Tzibushkin writes a very cogent  letter strongly criticizing Rav Ginzberg for being more concerned for covering up scandals than dealing with them for blaming the messenger rather than dealing with the message. He replies that she had missed his point. He replies among other things:

When scandals lo aleinu do strike, they are addressed. The Novominsker Rebbe shlita told me that when the terribly painful abuse claims arose, the most difficult thing that the Moetzes Gedolei Torah had to deal with was how to address these horrific crimes in public and yet preserve the kedushah in our homes and in our lives. As difficult as that was, the claim that Mrs. Tsibushkin makes - that the scandals are ignored - is just not in line with the facts on the ground.

Given what we know about the history of the gedolim dealing with abuse - this simply boggles the mind.

For example 2009 in an editorial in the Yated (reprinted in my book on abuse) Rabbi Pinchus Lipshutz acknowledged the ignorance of the gedolim about how to deal with abuse cases and that they were typically ignored in the past:

Let us be clear: For too long, we weren’t tuned in to these innocent victims’ stories and their pain. For too long, we weren’t sufficiently aware that this problem existed and thus were able to ignore the quiet pleas, the sad eyes, the pained lives, and the personalities withdrawn. We didn’t recognize the warning signs and thus largely ignored the phenomenon. Equally clear, this inattention was not a function of some high level conspiracy to harm people or cover up for criminals or abet nefarious activities. It was simply a function of a lack of education about a complex and highly sophisticated problem. It was a result of our leadership simply being unaware of the depths that such sordid people could sink to, and the extreme skill perpetrators exhibit in covering their tracks. And yes, it was undeniably a gezera, which, as so often is the case, claims innocent holy souls - bikroyvai Ekodeish.

I am all too aware that it is fashionable in certain circles to blame this all on our rabbinic leadership. These people have yet to explain why our rabbanim, who devote their lives to serving people, would want to hurt anyone. The days when being a rav or rosh yeshiva meant strictly poskening shailos or teaching Torah are long gone. Rabbanim routinely spend an overwhelming portion of their time dealing with every type of personal problem imaginable. I don’t have to elaborate on this now, but suffice it to say that it defies logic to accuse our most choshuve leaders, who exhibit much mesiras nefesh, of coldhearted indifference. As I said, the problem was a lack of understanding.

Emunas Chachomim- accepting advice of chachom - is learned from Moshe

Tiferes Shlomo (Beshalach): The foundation of emunas chachomim is to believe in the words of the righteous of the generation (which are permeated with G‑d’s spirit) and everything they speak about and advise – even in issues not connected with mitzvos or sins(devar reshus). They are to be believed even if what they say is against commonsense and even if they say that their words are not from G‑d – in other words are not prophetic. That is because in this point a wise man is greater than a prophet. That is because concerning a prophet who speaks in G‑d’s name, faith in him is not relevant. All that matters for a prophet is that he be believed as being the messenger for conveying G‑d’s word. In contrast, emunas chachomim means faith in the chachom’s own words – even if they are against commonsense and are not from G‑d. Nevertheless the chachom’s advice is beneficial and it should be followed exactly as he says - even in material matters such as personal advice for business and in other issues. By following the words of the chachom, it will bring the final redemption…Someone who doesn’t belief in all of this is in fact delaying the redemption and causing the exile to be prolonged…Therefore when it was necessary for the Jews to cross…and to merit redemption by means of emuna – G‑d gave them a test through Moshe which didn’t make sense. G‑d commanded the escaping Jews to return and camp before their enemies. Obviously it was very strange to them to approach rather than avoid their pursuers. Despite the absurdity of the request, they nevertheless remained faithful to Moshe. In other words, they had faith in him even if he hadn’t been the foremost prophet and even if he told them to do something on his own which was not a message from G‑d and they obeyed him. That is what the Torah means when it said that the Jews believed in G‑d and Moshe His servant. It was with this double faith that they crossed and merited the Splitting of the Sea. This great miracle which was connected to the acceptance of the Torah where it said (Shemos 19:9), “And they will also believe in you forever. This is the path of the acquisition of Torah with emunas chachomim.

Kosher Switch:Rabbi Rabinowitz reportedly denies giving haskoma

Shalom, Rav Eidensohn,

A rabbinic colleague here in Israel, Rabbi Ohad Fixler, sent me the following information about the purported "haskamah" by Rabbi Rabinowitz for the "kosherswitch". He tells me that his brother, Rabbi Dror Fixler, agrees to publicizing his testimony. Please see below.

ketiva vachatima tova,

David Mescheloff

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: אוהד פיקסלר
Date: 2011/9/27
Subject: Re: מפסק חשמל כשר לשבת - ביטול ההוה אמינא
To:

אחי דרור בירר אצל הרב רבינוביץ מה דעתו לגבי המתג חשמלי שהוזכר כאן לפני

מספר שבועות, שלכאורה נתן לו הסכמה.:

"אז הוא אמר לי שלא הראו לו את המתג הזה ואינו יודע כיצד הוא עובד,

וממילא גם לא הסכים לדבר.

אלא לפני זמן רב דיברו עימו בכלליות שיש להם רעיון, והוא רק איחל להם

בכתב: ברכה והצלחה. וכפי שמאחלים לכל מי שיש לו יוזמה, והם פירסמו ציטוט

זה כאילו הוא מסכים להם."

אוהד.

Protecting Children in Shul- Message from Rabbi Y. Horowitz of Project Yes

Dear Readers: 

With the Yomim Noraim upon us and the Yom Tov of Succos shortly thereafter, we would like to remind all parents to make sure that your children are supervised by a responsible adult at all times -- including the times when the adults are davening in Shul or resting in the afternoon. 

One Shabbos morning earlier this month, walking through the heart of Boro Park while many Shuls were still davening, I observed dozens of children playing in front of various shuls with no adults in sight. This may potentially be a recipe for disaster. We therefore, strongly encourage all parents to raise their awareness level regarding child safety.    

    
The Yomim Noraim and Yomim Tovim are a special time when children have the opportunity to interact with many different people. It is an opportune time to review with them the important lessons of personal safety. These include:

1) Your body belongs to you and you alone. 

2) No one can ever tell you secrets to keep from your parents

3) Good-touch -- bad-touch: No one may touch you in a spot normally covered by a bathing suit.

4) No one has the right to make you feel uncomfortable. You should shout and run away if someone does that to you.  

If you are unfamiliar with these messages, please take the time to watch this video about teaching your children about personal safety,

Project YES has been sponsoring a "Take a Child to Shul" campaign for the past few years before Yom Tov, asking community members to help the children of single mothers, especially the boys, by taking them to Shul. We continue to encourage this practice and similar acts of chesed. 

On behalf of our staff and the families who reach out to us for help year-round, we wish our supporters and our readers a K'siva V'chasima Tova, a year filled with joy and nachas, and a year of Shalom for our brothers and sisters in Eretz Yisroel and around the world.

Yakov Horowitz    
Director, Project YES

Kosher Switch requests correction of the authorship of its defense

R' Menashe Kalata wrote:

Rabbi Eidensohn,

Rabbi Student has already updated his article (http://torahmusings.com/2011/09/in-defense-of-the-kosher-switch/) based on this request.  I ask that you please make the same correction on your site(s).

Thank you.

---------- Forwarded message ----------

The author of our response (http://www.kosherswitch.com/live/halacha/truth), to which you are replying in your new post, is not "R. Menashe Kalati" but KosherSwitch Technologies, Inc. ("KSTI"), and not me personally.  Additionally, there is another person who is a Rabbi with the same name as me, and who has nothing to do with KosherSwitch or KSTI.  Please correct the authorship attribution immediately, before more damage is done.
Thank you.

Hirhurim responds to Kosher Switch's harsh criticism

Hirhurim - Rabbi Gil Student

The Kosher Switch saga continues. KosherSwitch Technologies, Inc. (“KSTI”), the maker of this clever device (discussed in this post: link), has published a response to the critiques his invention has received (link). He deserves the right to speak in his defense and raises many important points for consideration. However, in his understandable frustration he has also lamentably lashed out personally at some of his critics.

 I am honored that KSTI felt this blog sufficiently important to be the subject of one of the sections of his response. He offers a number of criticisms of my essay. He lists a few inaccuracies in my technical description of the device’s function, important points that, I believe, fail to move the halakhic dial but are worthy of mention. As I wrote in my original post and KSTI seems to agree, his device is built on the misnamed “Gerama switch” but breaks new ground with added features. While the Kosher Switch satisfies some of the criticisms facing the “Gerama switch,” it fails to answer some of the most important concerns and is therefore forbidden according to many significant hakakhic authorities. [...]

Kosher Switch attacks its critics & defends its position

 Kosher Switch
[...]

Clearly the poskim gave written statements.  The vicious attacks by bloggers and others have caused some poskim to back pedal.  Some have disavowed any knowledge, while some others have qualified their previously issued written statements.  Others have not disavowed a thing.  However, the actions of the accusers have made some rabbanim appear irresolute and others appear inconsistent or forgetfully incompetent.  Yes – the first rev of the KosherSwitch web site had some problems in that links to all poskim’s written statements did not operate, so users could not immediately see that some poskim had given qualified approbations or mere blessings.  Rather than contacting us for correction of the link and review of the actual written statements from the poskim, the accusers ran to the poskim and sought their wholesale repudiations of KosherSwitch.  In some cases, these accusers successfully persuaded or intimidated the authors to revoke or revise their prior written statements.  The accusers have thus cast their mentors into the shadows of incredibility, memory lapse, or worse.  Is this the Torah way? [...]

Cancer treatment becoming unaffordable in many developed countries

 Reuters

An explosion of new technologies and treatments for cancer coupled with a rapid rise in cases of the disease worldwide mean cancer care is rapidly becoming unaffordable in many developed countries, oncology experts said on Monday. 

With costs ballooning, a radical shift in thinking is needed to ensure fairer access to medicines and address tricky questions like balancing extra months of life for patients against costs of a new drug, technology or care plan, they said. [...]

The Lancet report pointed to Dendreon's Provenge prostate cancer treatment -- which costs more than $100,000 for a three-dose course and was found in trials to improve survival by several months in patients with few other options. [...]

Economic terrorism of gay rights advocates

NYTimes

A handful of advocates, armed with nothing more than their keyboards, have put many of the country’s largest retailers, including Apple, Microsoft, Netflix and Wal-Mart, on the spot over their indirect and, until recently, unnoticed roles in funneling money to Christian groups that are vocal in opposing homosexuality. 

 The advocates are demanding that the retailers end their association with an Internet marketer that gets a commission from the retailers for each online customer it gives them. It is a routine arrangement on hundreds of e-commerce sites, but with a twist here: a share of the commission that retailers pay is donated to a Christian charity of the buyer’s choice, from a list that includes prominent conservative evangelical groups like the Family Research Council and Focus on the Family. 

The marketer and the Christian groups are fighting back, saying that the hundred or so companies that have dropped the marketer were misled and that the charities are being slandered for their religious beliefs.[...]

The interdependence of faith in G-d and faith in Sages

Sefas Emes (Vayikra Pesach): And they believed in G‑d and His servant Moshe –It is known from seforim that by means of faith in the sages (emunas chachomim) a person can come to have faith in G‑d. That is because faith in G‑d is a higher level than faith in man. However this is from the perspective that “I am first and I am the last.” That is because in reality, faith in G‑d both precedes and causes faith in the Sages. But it is only after having faith in the Sages that a person is able to have true faith in G‑d. This order is what we see here. The Torah first says that they believed in G‑d and then afterwards they believed in Moshe. After that they sang “az yashir…” Thus we see by their singing the praises of G‑d by the sea, they were brought to true faith.

Chassidus: The Shpoler Zayde's Seuda - Saving the rebbe by dying in his place

Crownheights.info

The Shpoler Zayde, traveling in a sled, safely crossed the Ros River on his way to the Bris. However, upon his return, the ice broke, endangering the lives of everyone riding in the sled. At this moment, the Zayde saw, that in Heaven, a terrible decree was proclaimed against him. He cried out to all the Chassidim present: “Whoever wishes to replace me, I promise him ”Olam Haba“ (the world to come)!” Whoever would give his life for the Shpoler Zayde would be guaranteed a place in the world to come.

“I wish to replace the Zayde!”, shouted his “Gabbai” (beadle) Yollek. And so it was; his “Gabbai” Yollek drowned and the Shpoler Zayde was spared.

KosherSwitch removed false assertion that Rav Sternbuch gave haskoma

In apparent response to my posting that Rav Sternbuch had not given a verbal haskoma to Kosher Switch - their false claim to the contrary has been removed. 

kosher switch endorsements

Contrary to what had been cited on their page of endorsements - Rav Sternbuch did not say that their switch was better than gramma. In fact a rabbi who was present at the meeting said that Rav Sternbuch said that it was worse than gramma.  Thus this was not a case of Rav Sternbuch reversing his position because of pressure or misunderstanding the question or giving approval for a narrower domain than the Kosher Swtich claimed. Rather it is a clear misunderstanding on the part of Kosher Switch. Baruch HaShem they have removed their claim regarding Rav Sternbuch.

Abuse: Person is responsible if he did something clearly wrong - even if told by rabbi

Rav Moshe Sternbuch told me that when dealing with child abuse - that if a rav tells you not to go to the police when it is obvious that one needs to - you should not listen to the rav but to ask another rabbi (if there is no danger to the children by the delay). A clear support for this idea of each individual needing to be responsible to do that which is obviously correct - even if told the opposite by a rabbi - is the following Ba'al HaMa'or. This broadens the obligation to use your seichel and knowledge and focus on doing the right thing. When something is a dvar mishna - clear and obvious - you can not use the excuse that an authority told you not to do the right thing. This is clearly opposed to the idea of blind obedience to authority.

Ba’al ha-Ma’or(Sanhedrin (p. 12a in the Rif:):“If you were to ask: We hold [the prevailing view] that cases of garmi (damages resulting from direct and predictable cause) are liable for court adjudication. Why then do we say that when a judge errs in something stated explicitly in a Mishnah, he simply reverses his ruling but is not responsible for any losses, even if the damage incurred by the litigant due to his error is irrevocable? [For example,] the case of the cow of Bet Menaḥem whose meat can not be returned because R. Tarfon [the judge] had already [caused it to be] fed to the dogs [by those who followed his ruling]. “The answer is: The litigant was negligent. Since the error is in that which is stated explicitly in a Mishnah, the error is obvious, and the litigant should not have relied upon him and should not have acted upon what he was told. He should have questioned [the judge] and demonstrated the error, for this was as obvious as an explicit Mishnah. Therefore it is the litigant who was negligent; the judge’s ruling is superfluous. This is what is meant by: It is as if the judge never issued the ruling; he did nothing at all [to the litigant].”[Translation Rav Nachum Rabinowitz Chakira Magazine #5]

Computers can see (almost) what you are thinking

Time Magazine

That's a video of the process up top. A test subject is undergoing an MRI while watching random video clips from Hollywood movies. On the left side, you see clips from what the subject viewed. On the right, you see the fMRI results of "quantitative modeling" using "a new motion-energy encoding model," essentially a matchup of brain activity with the viewed images. As you can see, at worst, it's capable of reconstructing what was viewed in terms of the video image's elemental geometry, e.g. broad shapes, lights and darks, etc. And at best, you can make out identifiable human forms and even vague facial features. (Interestingly, the human-related images seem the least abstruse, which, perhaps—wild speculation on my part here—says something about species-related bias in our recognition patterns.)