Rav Lichtenstein & Culture shock: Calvin & Hobbes

this item appeared in the Jewish Week

Shalom bayis through being unconscious: Adam & Eve

Toldos Yitzchok (Bereishis 2:21): And G‑d caused man to become unconscious [when He made Eve] – This unconscious state [associated with the creation of woman] - hints that man should make himself unconscious when he is in his house and not to be critical and fussy with his wife and household

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תולדות יצחק (בראשית ב:כא): ויפל יי' אלהים תרדמה, רמז שהאדם יעשה עצמו נרדם בביתו, ולא יהיה קפדן עם אשתו ובני ביתו.

Dr. Marc Shapiro:Why frum child abusers are defended

Seforim Blog - footnote 8   There is another theory as to why the sectarian hasidic world in particular has had so many cases of covering up and defending child sex abusers. It is that they simply do not regard these people as so terrible. The evidence for this appears obvious, in that in case of after case we see that they continue to allow sex abusers to teach and refuse to turn them over to the authorities and warn the parent body. Had they caught the rebbe eating at McDonald’s, you can be sure he would have been fired, but not so when it comes to fooling around with kids. The question is why do they have this outlook, and how come they don’t regard child sex abusers as so terrible? Here is a possible answer (which a wise person suggested). Look at where these societies get their information about human nature, the information that they regard as authentic and true. It does not come from modern psychology, but from Torah sources and folk beliefs. If you look only at traditional rabbinic literature, you won’t conclude that child sex abuse is as terrible as modern society views it. Yes, it is a sin and the person who commits it must repent as he must do with all sins, but there is nothing in the traditional literature that speaks to the great trauma suffered by the victim. How do we know about this trauma? Only from modern psychology and the testimony of the victims. Yet this type of evidence does not have much significance in the insular hasidic world (unless it is your own child who has been abused). Certainly modern psychology, which is often attacked by figures in that community, is not given much credence, especially not when they are confronted with an issur of mesirah. This theory makes a lot of sense to me and I am curious to hear what others have to say.

This issue was discussed two years ago here

15,000 chareidi youth getting draft notices

Haaretz   Over the next few weeks, the Israel Defense Forces will send out draft notices to some 15,000 Haredi youths aged 17-19, requiring them to show up for interviews. The IDF does not intend on drafting them immediately, but simply means to have them follow the standard recruitment process required before military service. The regular enlistment process usually takes up to a year. The IDF has taken the step after the High Court of Justice invalidated the "Tal Law" governing the enlistment of the ultra-Orthodox. The change took effect in August. 

At the same time that the army is requiring all Haredi men to enter the regular recruitment process, it is also continuing its preparations to establish a number of new battalions to accept Haredi men as combat soldiers, similar to the existing Netzah Yehuda "Nahal Haredi" battalion.

Senior IDF officers and Defense Ministry officials presented the plan to implement a Haredi draft on Sunday, at a meeting with Defense Minister Ehud Barak. Barak will present the plan this morning to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. The plan is an attempt to find a middle ground in the wake of the cancellation of the Tal Law, in the expectation that it will be only temporary and that after the coming elections and the establishment of a new government, there will be a serious attempt to legislate a new law governing Haredi draft deferrals, seeing as how the High Court threw out the old arrangements.

Hebrew U study: 13.75 million Jews in the world

YNet   The global Jewish population reached 13.75 million in the past year, with an increase of 88,000 people, a study by Hebrew University Professor Sergio DellaPergola reveals.

According to the study, one out of every 514 people in the world is Jewish, less than 0.2% of mankind.

About 43% of the world’s Jewish community lives in Israel, making Israel the country with the largest Jewish population.

The Israeli Jewish population stands at 5,978,600, up 1.8%; the Arab population numbers at 1,636,600, up 2.4%; and the rest of the population including Christians and non-Jews reached 318,000 people, up 1.3%. Israel’s Jewish population makes up 75% of the state’s total people.

Rav Sternbuch:Problem of Get Me'usa in America

The following is my hasty unauthorized translation. Don't rely on it alone for practical halacha.

ב' מרחשון תשנ"ט

I was asked regarding a get which Rav X from Monsey gave to his wife. We want to emphasize that we only heard from one side i.e., that husband. However in matters of issur it is sufficient regarding assertions which are related with some sort of justification to arouse serious concerns that the Get is invalid as a Get Me’usa (forced get) and that it was given in error. Furthermore we have received letters from roshei yeshiva and gedolei Torah from America that verify the husband’s assertions. In their view there is a serious probability that the Get is invalid as we mentioned. Consequently there is no concern for the Cherem of Rabbeinu Tam that prohibits questioning a get given by a recognized beis din – since this isn’t simply a vague questioning of the validity of the Get as we explain. Therefore we call on the gedolei poskim in American not to get involved in this matter that they have heard about and assumed was correctly decided. There is the presumption that the Jewish people will not commit the crime of permitting the wife to remarry without a thorough clarification of what we mentioned and a true determination made of the din. In the matter which is before us, the husband does not want to leave his wife an agunah. He in fact is prepared to give a Get according to the law of the Torah. He simply is requesting his rights according to the Torah. They demanded from the husband that he falsely sign that he has no reservations regarding the Get and he are giving it whole heartedly. In addition they utilized the fact that the secular law always believes the wife - even when she is make false claims. Furthermore they utilized the fact that the secular law would imprison him based entirely on her false testimony or at least make a harsh judgment against him. It was only out of fear of these possibilities that he gave the get or validated it so that he would be free of improper criminal charges. You should be aware that this sin of permitting a married women to remarry against the halacha is extremely serious and is worse than what was done by the Generation of the Flood as is explained in Kiddushin (13a). And according what we have heard, America is degenerating to a state where anyone who marries a divorcee will need to clarify first which beis din gave her the Get and whether the husband willingly gave it. There is absolutely no concern to the Cherem [of Rabbeinu Tam] of questioning the validity of a Get – since there is clearly a valid basis to be concerned. This is the ruling of the Nodah BeYehuda (E.H. Madura Kamma 88) and other Achronim. The Nodah BeYehuda concludes there that if the beis din uses nidoi to pressure the husband then the beis din itself is in nidoi. Therefore due to the serious nature of this matter we request from the rabbis of America, who are the guardians of Yiddishkeit there, not to allow such a damaging breach. And this request is also directed to the Orthodox battei din that are known as Chareidim and yet they conduct themselves contrary to halacha due to our many sins. And even by silently acquiescing to this violation of halacha they are perpetuating it – chas v’shalom! For now the above words should be sufficient. Therefore I hope that this letter be productive in improving the situation. It will be my reward that I sanctified the Name of Heaven by not allowing revolt against the marriage laws. Gֿ‑d’s holy Torah will be perpetuated as well as His Will.

R' Pinto's wife attempts suicide after arrest

JPost   Rivka Pinto, the wife of Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto, one of Israel's most influential rabbis, attempted suicide by taking an overdose of pills at the couple's Ashdod home on Sunday, while police investigators interrogated her husband on suspicion of money laundering and bribing a senior police officer.

Pinto was lightly hurt and taken by Magen David Adom paramedics for treatment to the Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer Hospital, where she was recovering Sunday night.

For additional information YNet   bhol

Teaching teenagers derech eretz in shul

NYTimes   ALIA RAMER, a mother of three from Maplewood, N.J., first noticed the problem when her daughter was just reaching adolescence, the age when many Jewish children celebrate their bar and bat mitzvahs

Parents were dropping their children off at the synagogue, and the kids, unchaperoned, were treating the joint like the mall. Girls were hanging out in the bathroom, sitting on the countertops and texting their friends, while boys were playing tag football in the social hall and sneaking brownies from under the plastic wrap.

These days, the tables have been turned. Jewish communities around the country, horrified by the appalling lack of manners their children display at bar and bat mitzvahs, are increasingly turning to more-formalized training efforts.

At the Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway, a Modern Orthodox day school in Lawrence, N.Y., the school holds weekly academic classes to prepare boys and girls to become bar and bat mitzvah scholars.

But administrators added a separate, in-school program to rehearse the proper etiquette guests should display at these events. The highlight is a mock service in which teachers coach students on how to sit quietly during prayers and listen attentively to remarks made by the rabbi, parents and grandparents. Members of the school staff even make telephone calls to students’ cellphones to prepare them for that eventuality. 

R Amnon Yitzchok:Rav Steinman gave me iPhone heter

YNet   בכירי הרבנים החרדים מחריפים את מאבקם בסמארטפונים, ולאחרונה אף החלו בהטלת סנקציות אישיות על משתמשיהם כדי לבדל אותם מתוך המחנה - אבל יש מי שזה אינו נוגע לו. הרב אמנון יצחק טוען כי הרב החרדי הבכיר אהרון לייב שטיינמן העניק אישור מיוחד לו ולאנשיו להשתמש במכשיר אייפון "לצורך החזרה בתשובה".

הרב אמנון יצחק נדרש לסוגיה באתר ארגונו, "שופר", לאחר שברשתות החברתיות ובאתרי אינטרנט הופצו תמונות שבהן הוא נראה משתמש ב"מכשיר האסור". המחזיר בתשובה הידוע לא חסך בלשונו ואף כינה את אלו המבקרים אותו בעניין "טיפשים", ודימה אותם למי שפוגעים באלוהים.

באתר "שופר" ציטט הרב אמנון יצחק מדברי חז"ל, לפיהם "כל המהרהר אחר רבו, כמהרהר אחר השכינה", ו"איחל" ברמיזה למבקריו עונש משמים, כשהזכיר את החצי הראשון של דברי חכמים "החושד בכשרים – לוקה בגופו".
 

בהתייחסות עניינית לנושא, תחת הכותרת "הבהרה להסיר מכשול ולזות שפתיים", נכתב: "הרב אמנון יצחק שליט"א נגד האייפונים והדומה להם. מה שטפשים שואלים, ולא מדעת, כיצד יש לרב אמנון יצחק אייפון, להווי ידוע שגדול הדור הרב הגאון אהרון לייב שטיינמן שליט"א התיר אישית (...) לרב ולצוותו לצורך החזרה בתשובה להשתמש באייפונים". 

bhol. english      How is it that he who shattered the iPhones, Rabbi Amnon Yitzhak, is himself using the device? • He has an original explanation: "Rabbi Aharon Leib Steinman has allowed me to use the iPhone for Teshuva work" 

Shofar website, run by Rabbi Amnon's men released an answer this week:
"Highlights! To remove an obstacle and tongue wagging," said the headline.

"Rabbi Amnon Yitzchak Shlita is against iPhones and similar devices. Fools have asked how Rabbi Amnon Yitzhak has an iPhone?

"Rabbi Aharon Leib Steinman personally allowed (the questions asked in this regard by Rabbi Yehuda Leibowitz, shlita), the rabbi and his team to use iPhones for the sake of his Teshuva work."

The end reads: "And anyone doubting his Rabbi is considered doubting the shechina and doubting the righteous…" 

Chasam Sofer: Perek Shira as segula

חתם סופר (פרשת וילך ושבת שובה): שובה ישראל עד ה' אלקים וגו' ובמדרש [ב"ר פ"ד), אמר הקב"ה לראובן אתה פתחת בתשובה תחלה חייך שבן בנן עתיד לפתוח בתשובה תחלה שנאמר בהושע שובה ישראל. ענין התשובה צריך שתהי' עיקרה לעזזוב החטא ולעקור רוע שאור מלבנו, לא יזכר ולא יפקד ולא יעלשה על לב בעולם, לא כמו שאנו עושים מרבים בתהילים ונסברים בבה"כ ואינם שבים מרוע מעלליהם כ"א מוסיפים מע"ט, ואין זה אלא כמי שנתאכסן אצל בעה"ב בדירה סרוחה אין לחן ואין מים כ"א לחם הקלקל מוסרח ומעפש, ובראותו רחוק ממנו הר גדול גבוה תלול מאוד מאוד, ועליו מעין גלים עם כל פרי מאכל הדודאים נתנו ריח טוב מאוד. ואנשים טובים יפים מתעגנים בדשן נפשם, הוא חושק ומאוה לעלות שם גם הוא, ויהי הבעה"ב מתירא שמא ילכו האורחים שמה ולא ישובו עליו עוד, ע"כ פיתם בדבריו שימתינו והוא יביא להם פירות מפרי ההר ההוא ויתענגו פה בביתו ולא יטרחו לעלות ההר ההוא, וכן עשה והביא להם מטוב הארץ ההיא, והוסיף להם יגון ואון על כי בהתערב ריח הפירות הטובים עם ריח בית הכסא ושערי ריח רע הרע מאוד כידוע בטבע, ובהתערב מאכלים מתוקים עם המרים היו מתועבים ומשוקצים ביותר, כן ממש יארע לאנשים המתאכסנים אצל יצה"ר בדירה סורחה שלו, ובפקוח עיניהם בימים האלו ורואים כי רע ומר מאכלם ומשקם אשר שתו ולעו, ורואים הר ה' גבוה ותלול וצדיקים מתענגים מפרי כפיהם ומתאוים לעלות שמה גם המה, והיצה"ר מפתם שיביא להם מאותם הפירות שיאמרו תהלים ומעמדות כל היום וכל הלילה לא ייחשו, ולא עיינו בה' תשובה להרמב"ם שהעיקר תחלה התשובה לקבל עליו ולהעיד עליו הבורא ית"ש שלא ישיוב עוד נמעלליו הרעים, וכ' ר' יומנה שאח"כ שכבר הורגל מבלי לעשות מעשיו [הרעים] כלל יתחיל במע"ט, לא מקודם לזה, כי לא יתקבלו מעשיו הטובים אם יתערבו עם הרעים שבלבו מכ"ש לעיל במשל, וע"ז אמר דוד הע"ה [תהלים ל"ד] מי האיש החפץ חיים, פי' מי הוא אותו האיש אשר יחפוץ בחיים הנצחיים, ויעשה שטות כז שיהיהי' אוהב ימים לראות טוב תחלה ואח"כ ינצור לשונו מרע, וכן לא יעשה אלא תחלה סור מרע ועשה טוב אח"כ, וע"ז כתיב בפ' השבוע והיה לאכול ומצאוהו רעות רבו וצרות ואמר ביום ההוא הלא על כי אין אלהי בקרבי מצאוני הרעות האלה, ואנכי הסתר אסתיר פני וגו' כי פנה אל אלהים אחרים, ואחז"ל [חגיגה ה.] רעות רבות וצרות רעות שנעשו צרות זה לזה מה ניהו זבורא ועקרבה דקשי להאי מעלי להאי, והענין קשה מאד בקרא, שאחר שיכירו ויתודו על עוהם יסתיר פניו וחלילה לו ית', אבל הענין כי המעשה הטוב היותר גדול הוא שיהי' ה' נגד עיניו מיד בל יזוז ממחשבתו שוייתיה' לנגדי תמיד, אמנם זה שייך לחסי'י קודשי עליון, והמעשה היותר הרע ההוא העע"ז ח"ו, והנה בפגעם הרעות והי' לאכול לא נתנו לבם לעקור ע"ז ממחשבתם כ"א לעשות מעשי חסידות של שטות ולומר על כי אין אלהי בקרבי, פי' על שלא חשבתי ה' במחשבתי תמיד מצאוני הרעות האלה שלש אמרתי פרק שירה בכל יום, ובאמת אינו כן, כי אנכי הסתר אסתיר פני על כי פנה אל אלקים אחרים ולא על מניעת מעשה הטוב , וזהו באמת זבורא ועקרבה, תרתי דסתרי לב חורש משבות און ומוסיף מע"ט.

An Arab writes: Arabs are the enemy - not Israel

Arab News I decided to write this article after I saw photos and reports about a starving child in Yemen, a burned ancient Aleppo souk in Syria, the under developed Sinai in Egypt, car bombs in Iraq and the destroyed buildings in Libya. The photos and the reports were shown on the Al-Arabiya network, which is the most watched and respected news outlet in the Middle East.

The common thing among all what I saw is that the destruction and the atrocities are not done by an outside enemy. The starvation, the killings and the destruction in these Arab countries are done by the same hands that are supposed to protect and build the unity of these countries and safeguard the people of these countries. So, the question now is that who is the real enemy of the Arab world?

The Arab world wasted hundreds of billions of dollars and lost tens of thousands of innocent lives fighting Israel, which they considered is their sworn enemy, an enemy whose existence they never recognized. The Arab world has many enemies and Israel should have been at the bottom of the list. The real enemies of the Arab world are corruption, lack of good education, lack of good health care, lack of freedom, lack of respect for the human lives and finally, the Arab world had many dictators who used the Arab-Israeli conflict to suppress their own people.

These dictators’ atrocities against their own people are far worse than all the full-scale Arab-Israeli wars.

In the past, we have talked about why some Israeli soldiers attack and mistreat Palestinians. Also, we saw Israeli planes and tanks attack various Arab countries. But, do these attacks match the current atrocities being committed by some Arab states against their own people. [...]

Finally, if many of the Arab states are in such disarray, then what happened to the Arabs’ sworn enemy (Israel)? Israel now has the most advanced research facilities, top universities and advanced infrastructure. Many Arabs don’t know that the life expectancy of the Palestinians living in Israel is far longer than many Arab states and they enjoy far better political and social freedom than many of their Arab brothers. Even the Palestinians living under Israeli occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip enjoy more political and social rights than some places in the Arab World. Wasn’t one of the judges who sent a former Israeli president to jail is an Israeli-Palestinian?[...]

Rabbi Y. Pinto arrested on bribe charges

Haaretz  The influential rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto and his wife were arrested and investigated on Thursday. They were charged with attempting to bribe a police officer and money laundering. They were released under restrictive conditions once the investigation was completed.

The investigation into the conduct of rabbi Pinto and his wife was led a special investigation team headed by Yoav Segalovich, head of the police investigations unit. The police believe the rabbi contacted a high-ranking police officer and offered him a bribe in exchange for information concerning an investigation. The investigation took several weeks during which rabbi Pinto gave the police officer the bribe.[...]

Yaron Lipshos, Pinto's attorney issued a statement: "Rabbi Pinto answered all the police's questions, and divulged all that he knew in order to further the investigation so that it may be concluded as soon as possible and disprove all the baseless allegations raised against him."[...]   See Wikipeda for additional information

Nitei Gavriel:Not speaking to women

Hebrew Books   Nitei Gavriel (Chapter 50 Yichud page 325): Avos (1:5) says, “A man should not have excessive idle conversation (sicha) with a woman. That is said in regards to one’s wife so even more so it applies to the wife of another.” Therefore when a man has no choice but to speak to a woman he should minimize it as much as possible. That is what the Derech Pekudecha (Mahartza Mudinov - Lo Saaseh 35:8) concluded. He said, “It is surprising that accomplished Torah scholars and G‑d fearing men are not careful of this prohibition which requires them to weigh precisely each word that they speak with a woman in order not to add even one unnecessary word. I personally could not find a legitimate justification for this behavior. However I provided some sort of rationale for it based on the Sefer Chasidim which is cited by the Beis Shmuel (E.H. 62:11). He says that at a wedding meal – if there a men and women together in a single room then the beracha of hasimcha b'miono should not be recited. That is because there is no true rejoicing in a place where the evil inclination operates freely. In fact I have not seen anyone who has acts in accord with this ruling. I did find an explanation for this in the Levush who writes, ‘And now we are not careful with to observe this ruling because it is normal for women to be frequently found together with men (e.g., business, professions, and stores). As a consequence of this reality, sinful thoughts when seeing women are not so prevalent as when the sexes were kept separate because they are viewed neutrally as one would view geese due to the constant habituation. Therefore since it has become normal to violate this concern – it is ignored .’ One must conclude according this analysis that when a Jewish community is operating properly and livelihood is readily obtained you will not see a single woman outside the home because they are not involved in commerce. Consequently a man living in that community if he happens to see a woman – it is something extremely rare experience and therefore it will generate erotic thoughts and feelings. In contrast when the weight of exile is heavy and livlihood is difficult to obtain the women are involved in commerce and there is no novelty for a man to see women. Therefore he becomes habituated to the sight of a woman and doesn’t become sexual aroused so much when he see one. Therefore if we see that habituation removes the problem of men having erotic thoughts from being with women, it should also apply to our case of excessive talking [and therefore when the norm is that men interact  with women there should be no restriction on conversation.]  We can answer this assertion by noting that it is clear that a man does not in fact get sexually aroused by excessive chatter because of habituation. Nevertheless despite the existence of habituation in conversation, it is clear that this leniency for habituation can not be applied in the case of conversation. That is because excessive conversation is prohibited even with his wife with whom he is obviously habituated. That is because speaking and voice are considered sexual because they are mentioned in the Shir haShirim (2:14), Your voice is sweet and Shir haShirim (4:3), Your speech is pleasant (This is astounding! Is the ordinary voice of a women considered sexually arousing – isn’t it in fact only the singing voice? N.G.). It is possible that at the time when ordinary conversations with a woman were presumed to prohibited because of sexual arousal that they made the decree to prohibit excessive talk even with one’s wife. [to be continued]

Nitei Gavriel Yichud Chapter 50

Alshech: Harm of Talking a lot with one's Wife

Alshech (Vayikra 9:24): There is concern that by welcoming guests – as proposed by Avos 1:5 - into your home that some of them might become too friendly with your wife and this will lead to sin.The solution proposed by this mishna is that the husband should not talk a lot with his wife. This is to convey the message that if a man needs to reduce the idle chatter [sicha] he has with his own wife then surely he should not be talking a lot with the wife of another or becoming overly friendly with her. This is what is meant by,“And this prohibition of not talking a lot is in regard to his own wife.” Thus when people come to your house and they see you minimizing talking to your wife they will make the deduction that surely they should minimize talking to her because she is the wife of another. However such a solution will reasonably cause the husband to be concerned by a probable serious side effect of minimizing conversations with his wife.. He will reason, "If the Sages said that in order to prevent guests from talking too much to my wife that I need to minimize what I say to her – then there is a better solution. It is better not to have guests rather than to minimize having a close relationship with my wife and in particular in speaking with her.” In fact he will reasonably conclude that the mitzva of domestic tranquility is very important and that love between a man and his wife is more important than love amongst others. However his reasoning is rejected as can be seen by the fact that Rav Yehuda HaNasi (the editor of the Mishna) states that we do in fact learn that one must minimize talking to wives of other men even more so then to one’s own wife. That is  because he saw that Yossi ben Yochanon was not concerned with the possibility that minimizing conversation with ones wife would harm the marriage. In fact we learn from this that talking a lot with one’s wife does not result in love and domestic tranquility. The opposite is true. It actually produces much harm. There are three different types of harm. Firstly it causes harm to oneself since it leads to increased sexual relations - that even though that is permitted – it causes physical weakness & deterioration. It is also possible that this will result in premature aging which are called the days of evil. Secondly by spending a great deal of time in conversation with his wife – he forsakes Torah study. Thirdly because he becomes accustomed to spend an excessive amount of time with her, he will come to have sexual intercourse with her even when she is a niddah and thus he will directly sin. This will result in that he will end up going to Gehinom and not returning. That is described by this mishna (Avos 1:5) as “inheriting Gehiniom” since Gehinom will be all that he has.

the key to understand the above is what does the term sicha mean and what is "a lot"

Meiri(Avos 1:5): Don’t have too much sicha (idle conversation) with a woman. The term sicha means speech which has no real purpose which is why people say sicha betalila (conversation with no purpose). For example Avoda Zara (19b) regarding Torah scholars their sicha requires close study. In other words even when they seem to be simply conversing without purpose, there is substance in their words which needs to be carefully studied. Some issue might be alluded to in their words or character or ethics can be gleaned from them.