Me'Am Lo'ez: Jerusalem was destroyed because they didn't sacrifice pigs in the Temple?!

I just came across this jarring statement in the English Mo'am Lo'ez published by Moznaim.

Me’am Lo’ez (Koheles 7:16): …. To apply mistakenly the strict letter of the law, without regard to circumstances, can be "subtle wisdom" that leads to desolation. When the Romans besieged Jerusalem, they substituted a pig for the sheep offering, and it was not allowed upon the altar. In his pious humility and excessive caution for the Law, Rabbi Zechariah ben Akilas insisted on the literal interpretation of the halacha (a pig is forbidden) even in this situation, and he was condemned by later generations.

Thus the Talmud declares: Jerusalem was destroyed for no other reason than that they had set their words upon the law of Torah.

Not sure where he is coming from. The story about Kamtza and Bar Kamtza in Gittin( 56a) was that the problem was a sheep that had been cut and thus rendered posul. 

Gittin (55b): R. Johanan said: What is illustrative of the verse, Happy is the man that feareth alway, but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief?26 The destruction of Jerusalem came through a Kamza and a Bar Kamza;27 the destruction of Tur Malka28 came through a cock and a hen; the destruction of Bethar came through the shaft of a leather. The destruction of Jerusalem came through a Kamza and a Bar Kamza in this way. A certain man had a friend Kamza and an enemy Bar Kamza. He once made a party and said to his servant, Go and bring Kamza. The man went and brought Bar Kamza. When the man [who gave the party] found him there he said, See, you tell tales about me; what are you doing here? Get out. Said the other: Since I am here, let me stay, and I will pay you for whatever I eat and drink.

He said, I won't. Then let me give you half the cost of the party. No, said the other. Then let me pay for the whole party. He still said, No, and he took him by the hand and put him out. Said the other, Since the Rabbis were sitting there and did not stop him, this shows that they agreed with him. I will go and inform against then, to the Government. He went and said to the Emperor, The Jews are rebelling against you. He said, How can I tell? He said to him: Send them an offering and see whether they will offer it [on the altar]. So he sent with him a fine calf.1 While on the way he made a blemish on its upper lip, or as some say on the white of its eye, in a place where we [Jews] count it a blemish but they do not. The Rabbis were inclined to offer it in order not to offend the Government. Said R. Zechariah b. Abkulas to them: People will say that blemished animals are offered on the altar. They then proposed to kill Bar Kamza so that he should not go and inform against them, but R. Zechariah b. Abkulas said to them, Is one who makes a blemish on consecrated animals to be put to death? R. Johanan thereupon remarked: Through the scrupulousness2 of R. Zechariah b. Abkulas our House has been destroyed, our Temple burnt and we ourselves exiled from our land.3

Rav Moshe Feinstein commented:

Igros Moshe (Y.D. 1:101): .... There is no question that we have the right even to disagree with Achronim and also on occasion with certain Rishonim when there are proper proofs and more important with proper reasoning. Concerning this and similar matters the gemora says that a judge can only make a decision based upon what he sees (Bava Basra 131, Rashbam). This is true as long as the ruling doesn’t go against the well-known poskim such as the Shulchan Aruch which has been accepted in all countries. This is what is meant by the saying that there was a place left to make a fence. And this is in fact what the majority of teshuvos of the Achronim do – they decide many practical issues on the basis of innovations. However it is important not to be arrogant in making rulings. Thus one should avoid using innovations when possible except in situations of great need and surely in situations involving aguna such as the case under discussion. Thus we are obligated to make a ruling if it appears to us that there is a basis for a heter. It is prohibited for us to show false modesty and cause a Jewish woman to be trapped as an aguna or to cause a stumbling block with prohibitions or even to cause loss of money. Look at Gittin (56) where it condemns the humility of R Zechariah for causing the destruction of the Temple! The obvious question is what does humility have to do with the destruction? Look at Maharetz Chajes who gives a proper explanation. This is exactly what we are concerned about. Thus we must make halachic rulings according to what appears correct with proper proofs and understanding – and in particular in cases of aguna like this – to save from this difficult situation.

================The original Hebrew is quite different than the translation=====

אל תחי צריק חרבח ואל תתחכם יותר למח תשומם, (קהלת ז:טז):

ואומר קהלת : אל תהי צדיק הרבה, הזהיר בזה החכם שלא יאמר אדם, הואיל והקנאה והתאוה והכבד מעבירים את האדם מן העולם, אפרוש מהם ואתרחק מהם, ולא אוכל בשר ולא אשתה יין ולא אשא אשה ולא אשב בדירה נאה, ולא אלבש מלבוש נאה, אלא השק, גם זו דרך רעה ואסור לילך בה, ור,הולך בה נקרא חוטא, כמו שנאמר בנזיר : וכפר עליו מאשר חטא על הנפש, והרי הנזיר לא פירש עצמו אלא מן היין ונקרא חוטא, המונע עצמו מכל דבר על אחת כמה וכמה, ולא ימנע אדם עצמו אלא מדברים שמנעתו התורה בלב.ד ולא יהא אוסר עצמו בנדרים ובשבוע ת על דברים המותרים, כמו שאמרו חז"ל : לא דייך במה שאסרה התורה אלא שאתר, אוסר עליך דברים אחרים, ובכלל זה אלה שמתענים תמיד אינם הולכים בדרך טובה ועל כל הדברים האלו ודומיהם צוח שלמה ואמר אל תהי צדיק הרבה ואל תתחכם י תר למה שתשומם, ובכלל זה שלא יפרוש אדם מן העולם הזה מחשש שמא יכשל באיסורים, ואומר למה לי לישא אשה וללבוש מלבושים נאים, אלך לי בנקיקי הסלעים ואסתגף כל ימי בשביל הבורא, על זה נאמר ואל תתחכם יותר למה תשומם, היינו שגופך יהיה שומם,

ובכלל זה המחמיר על עצמו במקום שהתורה התירה, כגון חולה שצריך לאכול ביום הכפורים והוא אינו רוצה לאכול, עליו נאמר אל תהי צדיק הרבה, כן אל יהיה אדם חסיד שוטה, כגון שרואה אשה טובעת בנהר ואמר אין זה ממדת דרך ארץ להסתכל בה ולהצילה, או שרואה תינוק טובע ואומר לכשאחלוץ תפילין אצילנו, ועד שחלץ זה התפילין הוציא זה נפשו,

ורבותינו ז"ל דרשוהו כנגד שאול שחמל על עמלק ובסוף הרג את נוב עיר הכהנים, וכמו שמצינו שענותנותו של רי זכריה בן אבקילס החריבה את בית אלקינו, ואל תתחכם הרבה, כמו קרח שאמר ומה חוט אחד של תכלת פוטר, טלית שכולה תכלת על אחת כמה וכמה, למד בקל וחומר שבית מלא ספרים פטור מן המזוזה, וזהו שאומר למה תשומם, למה תגרום לך שממה, כמו שגרם קרח לאבדונו, וכן הענותנות הנ"ל גרמה לחרבן בית המקדש,

ועוד ואל תהי צדיק הרבה לנהוג בדקדוק ולא לפנים משורת הדין, כמו שאמרו חז"ל לא חרבה ירושלים אלא על שהעמידו דבריהם על דין תורה, 

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Why you should care about the measles outbreak--even if you're vaccinated

Fortune   An outbreak of the disease highlights the dangers of foregoing vaccines – and the reality that they sometime fail.

A measles outbreak spreading across the country has sickened 86 people in 14 states, raising fears of an epidemic. But what’s different this time is the high number of adults falling ill –including some who have been vaccinated.

“We’re seeing more adults than we have seen in a typical outbreak,” says Anne Schuchat, director of the Center for Disease Control’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.

The outbreak originated in Disneyland in December, sickening 11 people last month and another 56 people in January. The others most likely contracted the disease while traveling internationally in areas like Indonesia, India and Dubai.

The median age of infected patients is over 20, and not all of those were part of the anti-vaccination movement, whose adherents deliberately forego vaccines out of fear that they will cause more harm than good. At least six people diagnosed with measles got their measles-mumps-rubella vaccine, and all but two of them got the standard two-shot sequence.

This isn’t about measles vaccine effectiveness, which is actually one of the most effective in the world. Two doses provide 97% protection against infection and has been proven safe, says Schuchat. This is about the effect an outbreak has on the wider population when a select group of people remain unvaccinated.

The vast majority of both adults and children infected were unvaccinated–whether for health-related issues, lack of awareness or as part of the anti-vaccination movement. Medical professionals say the ongoing measles outbreak is the inevitable consequence.

Measles is a wildly contagious disease and is still common globally, sickening nearly 20 million people annually. The virus spreads through the air when an infected person breathes, sneezes or coughs. It’s so contagious that if one infected person coughs in a crowded area, 90% of the non-immune people in the vicinity will catch it. [...]

Rabbi Frederick Karp Arrested, Accused of Sexually Abusing a Minor

WBALTV   Frederick Martin Karp, 50, of Beachwood, Ohio, is being held at the Baltimore County Detention Center. The state wanted no bail, saying Karp is a flight risk, but after his attorney explained Karp was not fleeing, the judge set bail at $500,000.

Karp's wife and brother-in-law traveled to Baltimore and sat in on his bail-review hearing. In court, Karp sat with his head down, at times rocking back and forth.Karp was brought back from New York, where he had fled after charges of sexual abuse of a minor, perverted practice, and second- and third-degree sex offense were brought against him in Maryland earlier this month.

Baltimore County police said they learned on New Year's Eve that a girl had been abused by Karp. According to the Baltimore County State's Attorney's Office, the abuse occurred from July 2009 to early December 2014 when Karp visited the girl's family, with whom he was friends. The alleged abuse occurred from the time the girl was 7 until now. The prosecutor said in court Thursday that the 12-year-old's two sisters disclosed that they too had been inappropriately touched. [...]

Pew Poll: Scientists and Public disagree about Evolution and Vaccinations

Pew Research Center

Troll Your Kids Into Doing Their Chores With This Router That Makes Their Internet Impossibly Slow

Business Insider    What's worse the worst than having no internet connection?

Having an incredibly slow internet connection.

If you've ever dealt with a slow, choking internet connection, you know how annoying it can be compared to the glorious broadband speeds we've grown accustomed to lately. 

Now, a company is intentionally trying to make internet speeds worse for kids as a way of getting them to do school work instead of Snapchatting and texting.

Meet Vexbox — a router created for annoyed parents to kick down their kids' internet to a speed reminiscent of dial-up. [...]

Rav Moshe Sternbuch: Sikrikin bullies demonstrate in front of his house

זעזוע נורא: אמש הגיעו קומץ סיקריקים מארגון אתרא קדישא להפגנה מבישה מול ביתו של ראב"ד העדה

החרדית מרן הגר"מ שטרנבוך שליט"א.

זו תקופה ארוכה שאותם גורמים קיצוניים ושוליים מהינים לתקוף רבנים בישראל שאינם "מישרים קו" עם גחמותיהם, רק לא מזמן התפרסם כיצד תקף סיקריק מאתרא קדישא את הגר"נ קופשיץ שליט"א מרא דאתרא בבית שמש, וכמו כן העיזו לשלוח ידם בגדולי האדמורי"ם ותקפו כבר כמה פעמים את כ"ק מרנן האדמורי"ם מתולדות אהרן דושינסקיא ורחמסטריווקא שליט"א.

אותם נערי שוליים שאף אינם נמנים על ציבור העדה החרדית הגיעו אתמול ברוב חוצפתם ועזותם להפגין מול ביתו של מרן הגר"מ שטרנבוך שליט"א, כשהם נושאים בידם כרזות נאצה נגד הראב"ד מהסוג הגרוע ביותר, "רבאיי רפורמי" ועוד סיסמאות נבזיות, וזעקו דברי בלע וגנאי נגד הראב"ד שליט"א.

המדובר כעת בענין פרוייקט "מרום ירושלים" במתחם שנלר בירושלים, כאשר בד"ץ העדה החרדית החליטו בשני דיונים נפרדים למנות בתור מפקח במקום את הרב רפאל ליפשיץ הי"ו, מומחה ותיק בעניני קברים ומערות קבורה שידיו רב לו בהצלת קברי ישראל כבר עשרות בשנים.

לעומת זאת אנשי אתרא קדישא לא הסכימו עם החלטת הבד"ץ, ודרשו למנות דוקא את אחד מאנשיהם בשם ישראל אייזנבאך למפקח במקום, וכהמשך למאבקם מול העדה החרדית ורבניה הגיעו אמש קומץ סיקריקים מאתרא קדישא ברוב חוצפה ועזות פנים להפגנה נבזית נגד מרן הראב"ד שליט"א, העומד בחוד החנית של המאבק נגד ארגון אתרא קדישא ובראש המלחמה למען שמירת חומות התורה וההלכה.

בתוך כך בד"ץ העדה החרדית מגיעים כעת בהרכב מלא בהשתתפות הגאב"ד הגרי"ט וייס והראב"ד הגר"מ שטרנבוך שליט"א לבדיקת השטח במתחם שנלר, זאת כפי שהוחלט בישיבת הבד"ץ ביום חמישי האחרון בלשכת הבד"ץ בבנייני זופניק של העדה החרדית.

נוסיף, כי בעדה החרדית אומרים היום כי ההפגנה המבישה שקיימו אמש קומץ סיקריקי אתרא קדישא נגד מרן הראב"ד שליט"א, מטרתה באופן ברור להוות אמצעי לחץ נגד הראב"ד שליט"א ובד"ץ העדה החרדית שלא ישתתפו בביקור המתוכנן היום במתחם שנלר אשר נקבע בהחלטת הבד"ץ בשבוע שעבר.

נמשיך ונעדכן בהמשך בעז"ה

.

11 year old Chareidi girl raped by her uncle - speaks out 6 years later

YNET

נערה חרדית: "נאנסתי ושתקתי. לא עוד"

אסתי, נערה חרדית, נאנסה על ידי דודה. המשפחה ידעה אך העדיפה לעצום עיניים, ואסתי הלכה ודעכה, עד שהגיעה לעמותת תל"ם המסייעת לצעירות חרדיות במצבה. לאחרונה אזרה כוחות לשים את התוקף מאחורי סורג ובריח - וגם לדבר על זה, "כדי לתת אומץ לאחרות לקום ולעשות מעשה"

 

לפני שש שנים השתנו חייה של אסתי מהקצה אל הקצה: הנערה הצעירה - כמה חודשים לפני בת המצווה - נאנסה באכזריות על ידי הדוד שלה, סמוך לביתה שבעיר החרדית מודיעין עילית. הנערה הפגועה לא מצאה אוזן קשבת בקהילה הליטאית הסגורה שבה חיה ואף לא בקרב בני משפחתה, ומצבה הלך והידרדר.  

 

אבל גם חבל ההצלה הושלך אליה מעומק המגזר החרדי, בדמות עמותת תל"ם – מרכז חדש שהוקם במטרה לסייע לנערות מהמגזר החרדי שמצאו את עצמן מחוץ למסגרות משלל סיבות – רבות מהן, על פי עדותה של אסתי, נפגעות תקיפה מינית.  

 

הטיפול והשיקום שעברה ועוברת, הביא את אסתי לעשות צעד בלתי שגרתי למגזר, ולהתלונן על הדוד האנס – וגם לדבר על מה שעברה, מתוך מטרה "לתת אומץ לבנות אחרות שנמצאות במצב הזה או במצבים דומים לקום ולעשות מעשה", כדבריה.
"גדלתי בחברה חרדית 'רגילה", היא מספרת ל-ynet. "קצת לפני בת מצווה שלי, דוד שלי לקח אותי לסיבוב ברכב ליד הבית. בהתחלה הוא דיבר איתי: 'נכון שכיף להיות ערומים, לישון ערומים'. נבהלתי. זה דבר לא רגיל במגזר שמדברים על דברים לא צנועים. ואז הוא התחיל לגעת בי, ובהמשך אנס אותי".  

 

Leah Kaufman - Holocaust survivor: "My mother told me that I must live to remember and tell the world"

YNET

היא עמדה בפני כיתת יורים, נשלחה לצעדת המוות, שרדה ברעב ובקור. לאה קאופמן איבדה הכל בשואה, ובנתה עצמה מחדש - תוך שהיא מתבצרת בשתיקה ארוכת שנים. עד לאחרונה: "אמא שלי אמרה לי שאני חייבת לחיות, לזכור ולספר לעולם. לא הבנתי את המילים, ידעתי רק שאסור לי למות"

במלחמה הזאת, להישאר יהודי היה קידוש ה', כי זאת הייתה מלחמה על היהדות", היא אומרת ל-ynet ו"אורות - טלוויזיה יהודית". כילדה במשפחה של שבעה ילדים, לאה הקטנה כלל לא הבינה שפרצה מלחמה, אף שבביתה אירחו פליטים נסערים שהגיעו מפולין. באחת השבתות, באמצע הקידוש, החרידו דפיקות חזקות וזעקות ברומנית את שלוות השבת. "אבא שלי סימן לנו לברוח ולהתחבא, אבל זה לא עזר", היא נזכרת. "הרומנים דרשו את הילדים. הוריי הוציאו אותנו".

YWN posts a seriously flawed translation of MK Gafni claiming he said that those who work are not Chareidi

The following seriously flawed translation of an interview with MK Gafni published by Yeshiva World News  was sent to me. It mistakenly claims that MK Gafni says  that you can't be a chareidi and work. Recording of interview is here http://www.kol-barama.co.il/live/75872/

===this is an excerpt from YWN incorrect  translation=====

Yeshiva World News Breaking Headlines

Speaking with Mordechai Lavi of Kol Berama Radio on Tuesday morning 29 Teves, MK Moshe Gafne explained from his perspective there is no such thing as ‘working chareidi’.

Following is excerpts from the radio interview which lasted over 20 minutes.

Gafne

I do not accept the categorization. There are those who opt to leave yeshiva and join the working community.
KB
Are they called chareidim?
Gafne
No they are not. I do not accept this. It does not exist. One who does not learn in kollel and works has left.

 =====================

Here is the version published in the Hebrew Mishpacha where MK Gafni clearly says that Chareidim are not defined on the basis of whether they work or learn in Kollel - but rather their allegiance to gedolim

 My translation of MK Gafni's words 

....There is no such thing as "working chareidim" There are simply people who are chareidim. A person who educates his children the obey the gedoim is charedi. Why should it make a difference whether he works or not

============================This is Mishpachah's transcript of the interview======

מה רוצים מכם מי שמכונים יהחרדים העובדים?'

"כל הסיפור הזה של חרדים עובדים הוא פיקציה. שקר. תעלול שהתפתח מעבר לכל פרופורציה בגלל אינטרסים צרים ומקומיים. אין דבר כזה חרדי עובד יש חרדי. נקודה. מי שמחנך את הילדים שלו לציית לגדולי ישראל הוא חרדי. מה זה משנה אם הוא עובד או לא? הרי ידגל התורהי הוקמה על ידי אנשים עובדים. כל המוסדות החרדיים הוקמו על ידי חרדים עובדים, מה זו הבדיחה הזו? את מי אני מייצג אם לא את העובדים?"

אתה מתעלם מבעיות של קבלה למוסרות שיש בעיקר לאנשים שעובדים.

"אני בכלל לא מתעלם. יש בעיות קשות. חלק מהבעיות אי אפשר לפתור. צריך להקים מוסדות שיתאימו לכל הסוגים באוכלוסייה, וזה מה שאנחנו עושים. השבוע נחנך מוסד לימודים חדש באלעד שמיועד לציבור הזה וישבתי עם נציגי אותו ציבור על מוסד דומה בפתח תקווה, אני חושב שצריך לסייע להם באמת וזה בדיוק מה שאנחנו עושים.

"אני רוצה לחדד נקודה נוספת: בסופו של דבר, גם מי שיצא מהכולל בשל אילוצים כאלה ואחרים,יודע שעולם התורה זה חוד החנית של העם היהודי. הם האליטה שלנו. להם אנחנו צריכים לדאוג. אני בטוח שכל אחד מאתנו מוכן לוותר לא מעט בשביל שעולם התורה ימשיך לפרוח. בסוף-בסוף, אנחנו צריכים לדאוג לעולם התורה, לאברכים, לעמלי התורה".

 

Commonsense morality and Japanese hostility towards Japanese hostages facing beheading

CNN   Fighting back tears, Junko Ishido stood before dozens of television cameras, just hours before an apparent ISIS deadline to execute her son, Kenji Goto -- one of two Japanese hostages who appeared in a shocking propaganda video days before.

One of the first statements she made, before making a direct plea to ISIS to spare her son's life, was an apology to the Japanese people.

"Thank you for your great kindness and I apologize for the tremendous inconvenience and trouble that my son has caused," she said.

The apology is understandable in the context of Japanese society, says Jeff Kingston, director of Asian Studies at Temple University's Tokyo campus.

"In Japan when you inconvenience people, it's important to respect them and ask for forgiveness," Kingston says.

Ishido conveyed several times how badly she feels about her son's capture causing trouble for the Japanese government and alarm for its people. 

To her, it doesn't matter that her son was likely trying to rescue his friend and fellow hostage Haruna Yukawa. It doesn't matter than he has been praised by friends, colleagues, and strangers for reporting sensitively from war zones like Syria with strong, respectful determination. 

If she were to say such things publicly in Japan, she could be perceived as a selfish individual who touts the righteousness of her son. [...]

In 2004, three young Japanese hostages were released by militants in Iraq. Instead of being welcomed home, they were shunned for "causing trouble" for Japan. The former hostages, including one who was in Iraq helping children before her capture, were even billed by the government for their airfare.

"They got the frostiest unwelcome you can imagine. It was essentially government-encouraged bullying," Kingston says -- adding the trauma of their return was in some ways worse than their capture. [...]

The Orthodox Sex Guru's crusade for the acceptance of pleasure

NY Times   Update See rebuttal
How widespread sexual aversion is among ultra-Orthodox women is impossible to say, and the question is made especially difficult because there is a host of movements and sects with varying statutes and customs. But there is an erotic ideal that all these cultures share. After a young woman marries — often, like the Satmar wife Marcus told me about, to a man she has met and spoken with only once before the wedding — she’s supposed to feel that sex is a blessing, a union full of Shekinah, of God’s light, not just a painful or repellent reproductive chore. Quietly, rabbis refer struggling wives to Marcus’s care. Her task is to instill desire in them. [...]

Below her brown bangs, Marcus’s eyes fill with tears sometimes when she talks about how Orthodox Judaism — and above all the most restrictive branches of Haredi Orthodoxy — can quash female eros by imbuing a physical shame and a nearly apocalyptic sexual terror, by teaching that if the laws of tzniut, of modesty, are broken, calamity will come. One Haredi rabbi I met likened eros to “nuclear energy”: Sex could bring disaster to the world, but, he said, “the careful regulation” of it can connect a couple to God and beckon “transcendent experience.” [...]

One morning at the burnished round table where she talks with her patients, Marcus handed me a bride’s manual given out by kallah teachers. This particular book was written for the modern Orthodox; it is relatively progressive. The clitoris, for instance, is mentioned twice. Even so, the overwhelming emphasis is on the wife’s responsibility to keep the relationship on the right side of the law. The Talmud “indicates that during marital relations, the husband may not look at or kiss the wife’s makom ervah,” her private place, the manual warns. The lights should be off, a sheet should cover the couple, the position should be missionary — the wife is charged with keeping sex spiritual, keeping it chaste.

If she doesn’t, a parable in the introduction implies, God’s Chosen may “fall over the edge” of a cliff. “And that book,” Marcus reminded me, “is modern.” Her Haredi women seem to feel that their bedrooms are all but laced with Talmudic “trip wires,” she said, where one wrong move can cause destruction. [...]

The logic of rabbinical rulings can be counterintuitive and confusing to Marcus, and the decrees vary from rabbi to rabbi, but a line seems to be drawn between the physical and the psychological. A vibrator can be viewed merely as a piece of machinery to be applied medically to the body; racy literature or lingerie might damage the mind. (To finesse her way around the prohibition against reading soft pornography, Marcus once hired a cousin who majored in creative writing to produce some Haredi supersoft porn, and soon she was handing women a printout culminating in a Hasidic husband’s running his hands over his wife’s fully clothed hips and giving her a “meaningful kiss.” But the tepid scene didn’t seem to do much for her patients.) [...]

“I tell them our values are the same,” Marcus said about winning over her Haredi patients, “but in a way, I’m being disingenuous.” In addition to working one on one with women, she holds seminars for kallah teachers. She is on a kind of crusade, a fledgling effort to carry new ideas about eros into Orthodoxy, to educate the educators, to persuade them to give brides an abundance of detail about the anatomy of pleasure, about orgasm. [...]

Colorado baker faces complaint for refusing anti-gay message on cake

Fox News

A dispute over a cake in Colorado raises a new question about gay rights and religious freedom: If bakers can be fined for refusing to serve married gay couples, can they also be punished for declining to make a cake with anti-gay statements? 

A baker in suburban Denver who refused to make a cake for a same-sex wedding is fighting a legal order requiring him to serve gay couples even though he argued that would violate his religious beliefs.

But now a separate case puts a twist in the debate over discrimination in public businesses, and it underscores the tensions that can arise when religious freedom intersects with a growing acceptance of gay couples.

Marjorie Silva, owner of Denver's Azucar Bakery, is facing a complaint from a customer alleging she discriminated against his religious beliefs.

According to Silva, the man who visited last year wanted a Bible-shaped cake, which she agreed to make. Just as they were getting ready to complete the order, Silva said the man showed her a piece of paper with hateful words about gays that he wanted written on the cake. He also wanted the cake to have two men holding hands and an X on top of them, Silva said.

She said she would make the cake, but declined to write his suggested messages on the cake, telling him she would give him icing and a pastry bag so he could write the words himself. Silva said the customer didn't want that. [...]

Religious women hold trailblazing conference on family sexuality

Times of Israel

Some 150 religious Jewish women, most of them wives of rabbis affiliated with the Tzohar organization, gathered this week in Holon to talk about sexuality. 

The event, entitled “Guf Rishon” (First Person) was the first of its kind in Israel. Spearheaded not by the rabbis of Tzohar – which seeks to promote Jewish identity from a religious Zionism standpoint – but their wives, the gathering allowed these Orthodox women to discuss their own sexuality and that of their families in a public, supportive atmosphere.

“Sexuality is a topic that we should begin to address starting from a very young age. We need to make sure it is treated as a legitimate issue and educate our children accordingly,” said Tzofia Hirschfeld, who moderated the event. “We were pleased to find the openness of the participants, their willingness to talk about it and their acknowledgment of its importance.” [...]

Sheldon Silver, New York Assembly Leader, Is Arrested on Graft Charges

NY Times    The speaker of the New York State Assembly, Sheldon Silver, was arrested on federal corruption charges on Thursday and accused of using the power of his office for more than a decade to secure millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks and then covering up his schemes, according to court documents.

Mr. Silver, a Democrat from the Lower East Side of Manhattan who has served as speaker for more than two decades, is accused of a range of corrupt dealings that capitalized on his official position. They include using his position to obtain corrupt payments misrepresented as referral fees from a law firm, funneling state research funds and other benefits to a doctor who in return referred asbestos claims to the law firm where the speaker worked, and secretly helping real estate developers win tax breaks.

In recent years, a steady parade of lawmakers in Albany have been charged with corruption, and the complaint against Mr. Silver outlines a capital culture rife with back-room dealing, where money and influence shape public policy for the benefit of private agendas. [...]

The complaint maintains that for more than a decade, Mr. Silver devised a scheme “to induce real estate developers with business before the state” to use a real estate law firm controlled by a lawyer who had once worked as Mr. Silver’s counsel. That lawyer, according to the complaint, orchestrated payments to the speaker for referrals to the firm.

The complaint, referring to the personal injury firm, Weitz & Luxenberg, also said that “there is probable cause to believe that Silver received approximately $4 million in payments characterized as attorney referral fees solely through the corrupt use of his official position.” [...]